Harriet Starr Cannon : first Mother Superior of the Sisterhood of St. Mary : a brief memoir

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HARRIET STARR CANNON

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Ibarriet Start Cannon

FIRST MOTHER SUPERIOR

OF THE

SISTERHOOD OF ST. MARY

A BRIEF MEMOIR BY

MORGAN DIX

SOMETIME PASTOR OF THE COMMUNITY

TRINITY MISSION HOUSE

NEW YORK

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

LONDON AND BOMBAY
1896

Copyright, 1896
BY MORGAN Dix

HAY 6 1993

tTbe Knickerbocker press, Hevt L orh

TO
THE SISTERS OF SAINT MARY

IS REVERENTLY AND AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED
THIS MEMORIAL OF

THEIR DEARLY BELOVED

WHO NOW

WALKS BEFORE GOD IN THE LAND OF
THE LIVING

1435

I

I.

PREUJDE.

OF all the views on the line of the Hudson
River, none, perhaps, is more striking
than that presented at the point where
the stream, escaping from the compression of
the Highlands, expands into the broad inland
lake known from old time as the Tappan Sea.
Through the mountain range, cloven ages ago by
some vast glacial movement or convulsion of
nature, the impatient waters have forced a pas
sage, until, as if with a sensation of relief, they
pour down upon the level land, catching, perhaps,
the first sound of welcome from the ocean towards
which they now draw rapidly and joyously for
ward. The scene at the point referred to arrests
and charms the eye. On the right hand, like an
outer bastion, stands a great round- topped moun
tain ; to the left, where the shore is indented by a
deeply recessed bay, appears the village of Peeks-

2 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

kill shut in by defending hills. The ridge to the
north of that village lifts a dense foliage into the
air ; and above the masses of maples, cedars, and
chestnuts, may be descried what seems to be the
bell tower of some church or chapel hidden from
sight and crowning the plateau. The structure
to which the tower belongs, and whatever other
buildings may be there, remain invisible until the
traveller has climbed the heights on which they
stand, and passed through a wide gateway into an
enclosure of some fifty or sixty acres presenting
as he advances one object after another apt to
fix the attention. A broad avenue commands
the prospect over the low country, the valley in
which the village stands, and the inland lake ;
one building after another is reached and passed,
until the chapel is disclosed to which the tower
belongs. Built on the rock of the plateau, itself
as it were a part of the ledge, it reminds one of
the church at Assisi, having, like that, an upper
and a lower church, the former spacious and of
noble proportions, the latter a mortuary chapel,
where the Offices of the Dead are statedly sung,
and to which the bodies of the faithful departed
are taken to await the time of burial. Beyond,
as he advances, the traveller sees to the right
buildings of large size, half hidden by the trees;

PRELUDE. 3

and, first, the school known as St. Gabriel s, from
whose door it is probable that a troop of merry
girls may come fluttering forth, taking their way
to favourite woodland paths for recreation; still
further appears the outline of the great Mother
House of the Community of St. Mary, where dwell
the head of the Order, some twenty Professed
Sisters and Minors, and a score at least of Novices.
If now the pilgrim to this home of religion, art,
and letters, leaving the Chapel on his right hand,
should walk some distance northward, he will
come to a level field, or dell, surrounded by rocky
heights, the resting-place of some who have
passed beyond these earthly lights and shadows.
The grass-grown mounds which break the surface
of the ground are without headstone, name, or
inscription ; on each is a simple cross ; nothing
indicates what traveller may here have reached
the end of the journey, what weary frame is
sleeping here in the peace of God ; nor need this
be known, save to the Community, as one by
one their dead are brought here to burial.* But

* Since writing this paragraph, I am informed that
Mr. Le Grand Cannon of New York has made arrange
ments to erect a cross in the cemetery at St. Gabriel s,
as a memorial to his kinswoman, to bear her name and
an appropriate inscription.

4 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

it may be questioned whether anywhere else on
earth a deeper impression of the restfulness of
holy death is made upon the thoughtful observer.
All is still; no sound of the outer world disturbs
this repose ; the trees wave in the wind ; the cliffs
look down upon the place; lights and shadows
fall, in course, across it as days and nights come
and go; a woodpath leading from the side of the
convent passes on to a point whence may be seen
the great river flowing steadily towards the sea;
not far away is a grove of pines, where, of a sum
mer evening, the wanderer may rest, and see
beyond him the military camp-ground of the
State, and hear at sunset the call of the bugle
and the evening gun. The sleeping place, to
which we now return, seems fitted above all
others for the rest of those daughters of our
I/ord, who having finished their course in faith,
and having left there what of them could die,
now expect the resurrection of the dead and the
life of the world to come. It is not to be won
dered at that, now and then, one trained at St.
Gabriel s for her life work, and finding the end
at hand in some far-off region, has longed for
her own place among those sleepers, and asked,
earnestly, that her body might be taken home and
laid beside her sisters in the much-loved spot.

PRELUDE. 5

In that cemetery at St. Gabriel s, on the gth
day of April, 1896, it being the Thursday in
Easter week, there was committed to the ground
the mortal body of one of the noblest and most
remarkable women of our day ; a body once the
earthly tabernacle of a vigorous mind, a clear
intellect, a resolute will, and a great heart full
of love to God and man. The world knows lit
tle of her and cares less; her life work was not
that which this generation applauds; the object
for which she lived makes no appeal to the rest
less spirits of our day ; but if ever God s work has
been done well and faithfully it was so done by
that active brain, that devoted heart, those hands
that never tired, those feet which trod for forty
years the path of close and closer walk with the
I^ord. As if by His special and most gracious
mandate, she was called out of this world on
Easter Day ; at half-past three in the afternoon the
exodus was made; four days later the precious
body was committed to the ground, in the midst
of those nearest and dearest to her on the earth,
a great number of sisters, associates, priests, and
devoted friends assisting at the solemn action.
After the due performance of the Rites of the
Church, in long procession, carried on the shoul
ders of four priests, followed by her spiritual

6 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

children, and by many clergy from our own and
distant dioceses, she was borne to the grave. It
was remarked, and none could fail to notice, that
the season, which had been backward, seemed to
have changed suddenly ; the voice of the spring
tide and the first prophecy of summer were in the
air ; the sun shone brilliantly on the little proces
sion; light breezes stirred the trees; and, for the
first time that year, the birds began to sing, as if
joyfully praising the IvOrd. Unseen forms must
have been also in attendance; visitants from an
other realm, to whose presence may have been
due some of that impression of awe and wonder
with which we withdrew from the scene.

And now that all is over on this side, and now
that she has been received out of our sight, it
has been felt that some memorial, some written
record, should be prepared of greater length
than those which have already appeared in the
journals of the day, commemorative of that life.
This seems desirable for many reasons ; as a trib
ute to the woman who was with us once as a
burning and a shining light; as a statement of the
motives of her action during a long and memor
able life; as a record of the results of the indomi
table energy with which she wrought, and the
reward of patience and faith conceded to her lov-

PRELUDE. 7

Ing service ; as a history of the varied experience,
through which, in evil report and good report, in
reproaches, misunderstandings, and opposition,
she steadily pursued her way ; as a gift to those of
the Community founded by her, which may serve
for reminder, encouragement, and warning, as
they carry on the work which throve so wonder
fully under wise and strong leadership, and now
devolves on them the weight of an unspeakably
grave responsibility. Such purposes might a me
moir serve which was all that it should be; there
fore the writer could wish that the task of preparing
it had been laid on some one more worthy than
he. There are men and women in the Church
far better fitted for this undertaking, though in
one point he yields to none of them; in his devo
tion to that blessed memory, his appreciation of
that mission of which she was the apostle, his pro
found reverence for the manner in which her work
was accomplished, his earnest desire that every
thought of hers respecting it may be fulfilled. It
is nearly a quarter of a century since, as Pastor
of the Sisterhood of St. Mary, he knew, in the
sacred intimacy of the priestly office, all that
its Superior was planning, desiring, suffering.
Others, since that distant day, have done the
work which he was compelled to lay down, but

8

MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

the afterglow is bright on the skies behind us, and
through that light it may be given him to write
down something apt to help and teach, to remind
those who were then her companions, to help
those who shall come after.

" So be it: there no shade can last
In that deep dawn beyond the tomb :
And bright from marge to marge shall bloom
The eternal landscape of the past."

We move, like shadows, between a past full of
visions and dreams of good, and a future where in
substance these visions and dreams are to turn to
unchanging realities in the heavenly city.

II.

BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS.

SO now let us take our work in hand, and
show what God wrought, in one conse
crated life, in those seventy-four years,
between 1822 and 1896. What years they have
been, whether we look upon them from the secu
lar side or from the precincts of the Kingdom of
Heaven ! How strong the contrast between the
action of the Spirit of God in souls and hearts
reverent of the truth, and aiming at union with
Him and fulfilment of His will, and the working
of the Spirit of the Age, in souls equally in ear
nest but misled by the chimeras of the day and
dreaming of progress apart from religion! We
have seen, and are now seeing, strange sights ;
revolts and revolutions, the phantasmagoria of
experiment, the agitation caused by morbidly
sensitive and nervous men and women, crazed by
excitement, and stimulated by the wish for the
9

IO MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

impossible : and this we recognize as the work of
the Zeit Geist. On the other hand we see a revi
val of the life hidden with Christ in God: fruits
of divine charity; building on a sure foundation;
help meet for a world which lives in God and can
not get away from God : plainly the work of that
Lord whom it is light and joy to follow and sin
unpardonable to reject and deny. My story is
that of a woman s life, led in the grace of the
Gospel, and growing from more to more ; a woman
who turned her talents to account for the Master
of the house ; who exalted the ideal of true woman
hood; who saw, first and always, the overruling
Providence which guides the course of time, who
was reverent of the Supernatural, and strong in
that faith which is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. Had it been
possible for such a thought to pass through her
humble mind, she might have appropriated to
herself the saying of the Ever Blessed, For He
that is mighty hath magnified me : and holy is
His Name."

My story begins with that of the Cannon family,
of which the progenitor emigrated from France
early in the iyth century. The Cannons were a
family of rank and wealth, Huguenots by religion,
and, for that reason, refugees; passing first into

BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS. II

Holland, thence to England, and thence to the
Colony of New Netherland, into which they came
about the year 1632. We have few details of their
history for the first fifty years; no record can be
traced of births and deaths, but if tradition may
be trusted they held a high social position in the
town and province. The first authentic record
brings before us John Cannon, then known as
"Jean Canon," a merchant in the city of New
York in 1693. In 1697 ne married Marie I^e
Grand, daughter of Pierre Le Grand; he resided
in Pearl St. between State and Whitehall Sts.,
and carried on a large and prosperous business
until 1 720, when he was succeeded by his son John.
Le Grand Cannon, son of John, and grandson of
the first John Cannon, a distinguished man of his
day, resided for many years in Stratford, Conn.,
and died there in 1789. Further information on
the subject of this family may be found in the
New York Biographical and Genealogical Regis
ter, in Orcutt s work on Stratford, and in Valen
tine s Manual of the Common Council of New
York for 1864, in which latter work, in a list of
baptisms in the Dutch Church, 1697 to 1720, ap
pear the names of several children of John (or
Jan) Cannon. The names of Pintard and Scher-
merhorn also occur in this large connection. I

12 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

have before me a drawing of the family coat-of-
arms; the field has a figure of an artilleryman, in
the costume of 150 years ago, applying a lighted
fuse to an equally old-fashioned gun ; for a motto,
the words, Firmior quo Paratior. An old family
Bible containing records of the Cannon family
was long in the possession of the late Reverend
Mother Superior; she sent it, in 1892, to her kins
man I^e Grand B. Cannon, Bsq., of 311 Fifth
Avenue, New York. From a letter of his, ac
knowledging the gift, I am permitted to make the
following extract:

" I duly received this morning (Dec. 15, 1892)
your kind note announcing your Xmas present,
and by special messenger your gift of the Old
Family Bible, and also your photograph and Dr.
Dix s letter.

I greatly prize the gift, as quite independent
of its antiquity and family associations, the im
pulse which governed you in making me its
inheritor and possessor enhances the value of
the gift ; and for all this you have my earnest
thanks.

The condition that your own mortuary shall
be the last record in the Bible will be observed if
I survive, or the obligation transmitted to my
son."

In the early part of this century in the city of
Charleston, South Carolina, lived William Can-

BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS. 13

non and Sally his wife. Mr. Cannon was the son
of !Lewis I^e Grand Cannon; his wife, Sally Hin-
man, was the youngest daughter of Isaac Hinman.
Two daughters were born to them, Catharine
Ann, Sept. 23, 1821, and Harriet Starr, May 7,

1823. On or about the 24th day of November,

1824, both parents died at Charleston, of yellow
fever, leaving the little girls helpless and all but
alone among strangers. Fortunately, Capt. James
Allen, brother-in-law of Mrs. Cannon, arrived in
the port of Charleston about that time, on a trad
ing voyage in his own sailing packet ; having been
advised of what had occurred, he found the chil
dren, living, but divested of everything that they
possessed, and in a position of great danger.
They were taken at once on board the vessel,
and brought to Bridgeport, Conn., where they
were gladly received by Mrs. Fowler, their aunt,
a sister of their mother s, and taken to that home
which was thenceforth theirs until they attained
to womanhood.

The children received a good education, and
were carefully brought up. Their attachment to
each other appears to have been singularly strong
and devoted. Harriet is described as a girl of
lovable disposition, and attractive and charming
manners, a general favourite, always bright and

14 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

cheerful, making every place happy in which she
appeared. She was a proficient in music, and
gave lessons in that art to the children of her rela
tives and friends.

Time passed on; and in 1851 the elder sister
Catharine was married to Mr. John Ruggles, and
went out to California, to make her home on the
Pacific coast. Her one desire appears to have
been that Harriet, her beloved sister, should be
with her; arrangements to that end were made,
and all was ready when, only a week before her
departure for the West, the fatal tidings came that
Mrs. Ruggles was dead. This was in 1855. The
blow overwhelmed the survivor of that devoted
pair. It formed the crisis of her life. Left, as
she felt herself to be, alone, her purposes de
feated, her plans broken off, and herself free to
take her own course in the world, she little knew
that God, in the mysterious order of His Provi
dence, was drawing her away from earthly ties,
and nearer to Himself. Vocations are determined
in many and diverse ways. Some go to God,
from the unclouded brightness of happy morning
hours ; some through the heavy shadow of sor
row; some after bitter trial of the instability of
temporal things, and some without one painful
memory to darken the retrospect. In this case it

BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS. 1 5

was intense sorrow which prompted action. The
penumbra of that sorrow lay, for many years, upon
the chastened soul. In a letter written thirty-one
years afterwards, she recurs most touchingly to
her bereavement. Writing from St. Gabriel s,
June 28, 1886, to one of the Community, she
says :

" I have your plaintive letter; and I feel that I
know it all, that I understand it all ; at the same
time I know that you are ready to learn the les
son God would have you to learn; that He has
given the loneliness only that He may fill the void
with a double portion of His Spirit. I can look
back to one period of my life when I scarcely
knew whether the sun rose or the sun set ; when
for days there seemed to be no one in the world
but myself. That time was, when God took to
Himself my only sister, whom I loved with a love
which words can hardly express, for she was my
all. Having neither father nor mother nor
brother, we were almost like one person. God
had a purpose for me. Had she lived, I doubt if
I could have had the courage to respond to His
purpose. God in His good time will show you
too what He would have you to do and to be, be
cause of this voice."

In another letter she refers to the same subject,
as dwelling on a life-long and vivid memory.

l6 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

" Aug. 12, 1887.
My dearest Sister:

" A thousand thanks for your dear note. The
day it reached me I was thinking of the events of
fifty years ago, events brought to my mind by an
invitation to be present at a Golden Wedding.
I remembered (I was just fourteen then) how I
stood in a certain spot to witness the marriage
ceremony. Oh how little do we know what our
lives are to be ! We plan for one manner of life,
while God plans for us altogether another plan of
life. It is a great rest to me never to have doubted
His will in my regard. It cannot be long now
before I shall go to Him, before I shall see Him
as He is.

Ever lovingly yours,

" THE MOTHER."

It may be inferred from these letters that some
thought of a dedication of her life to the immedi
ate service of God had been in the heart of this
young girl; an idea yet crude, an immature pur
pose. But the crushing sorrow cleared up the
matter; she saw her way, she took her course;
she held it thenceforth, steadfastly, step by step,
as the Spirit led on, even unto the end.

Assured, now, that the Lord had called her, she
began to look about and consider how and where
to find the means of obeying that summons. And
here, in the record of her life, we come upon the

BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS. \J

figures of a man and a woman, noted in their day,
who helped her, and left the impress of their in
fluence upon her career. Let us turn to them,
and see how the strands of those three life his
tories were woven together, and how, later on,
these faithful servants of the Master drifted apart,
when the Divine purpose had been fulfilled.

III.

FIRST ESSAY IN A SISTER S LIFE.

AT the time of which I write the Church of
the Holy Communion, on Sixth Avenue
and Twentieth St. , was one of the most
important centres of Church work in the City of
New York. Its Pastor was William Augustus
Muhlenberg, of blessed memory, one of the great
powers of his day. Dr. Muhlenberg may be said
to have had at heart two things above all others :
the extension of charitable work among the poor,
and the restoration of visible unity among the
Christian bodies around us and their unification
in one Catholic Church. He was the founder of
St. I/uke s Hospital, a magnificent monument to
his memory, an institution which will be, to the
end of time, associated with his name. The
Church of which he was the Pastor, and which
was built for him, was regarded, at that time, or
rather somewhat before that time, with the same

18

FIRST ESSAY IN A SISTER S LIFE. 19

apprehension with which people now look upon
the ritualistic churches of our day ; it was the
advanced parish of the moment. Dr. Muh-
lenberg loved the beautiful in the externals of
religion ; music, architecture, ceremonial, and all
that makes divine worship impressive. I have
heard old men who were scholars of his at College
Point long before he came to New York, describe
the services in the chapel at that place, and tell
how they used to hold their Christmas Matins at
early dawn, the place fragrant with incense, the
picture of the Madonna and Child above the altar
decorated with flowers, and the service sung, with
carol and chant, in Latin.* There was much in
all this to attract, delight, fascinate the ardent
souls of the young, who no doubt imagined be
neath this exterior some things which did not
exist. For to say that Dr. Muhlenberg had his
limitations is to say what might be said of most
great and holy men. His theology was rather
of the Lutheran than the Anglican type. In
his devotion to the cause of Christian unity he
might perhaps have taken down some defences
which to others appear necessary to the safety of

* On the ritualism and services in the school, see " The
Life of Dr. Muhlenberg," by Miss Anne Ayres, pages 18,
148.

20

MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

our own Church. Beautiful as was the order of
the services, he stopped short of the sacramental
system as taught by the Oxford school; and he
had no sympathy with views in advance of the
point which he had reached in working out his
own parochial, liturgical, and charitable ideal.
I do not write this in disparagement of that noble
soul, that great heart, but because the fact has a
bearing on the story which I am telling, which
will presently appear.

It was fitting and right for an ardent nature,
filled with love for God and man, and seeking the
way of complete dedication to our Lord, to turn
to William Augustus Muhlenberg as the one who
might be supposed to know more about the ways
and means thereto than any other man. It was,
above all, natural for a woman like Harriet Starr
Cannon to look to him, because he had already
taken a new departure in the line of woman s
work in the Church. It was a part of the original
scheme of St. Luke s Hospital, that the sick in its
wards should be nursed by women consecrated by
a religious motive and special obligations to the
performance of that duty. Another jewel in the
crown of that good man was that he gave the first
impetus to the cause of Sisterhoods in our Church.
He had already organized a little band of women

FIRST ESSAY IN A SISTER S LIFE. 21

for that purpose : regardless of the fears and
prejudices of the time, he had boldly called them
by the title of Sisters : the " Sisterhood of the
Holy Communion. As the work of the Hospital
grew, recruits for these nursing sisters, or as we
should now style them, Hospital Nurses, were in
demand ; and devout women were readily and
gladly admitted to the number. The principal
spirit in this little band was Anne Ayres, Sister
Anne, as she was called, a woman as remarkable
in her way as the Pastor of the Holy Communion
in his. Here then were all that Harriet Cannon
needed : a place in the Church, a work to do
among the poor and needy; the supervision of a
spiritual father ; the help and animating influence
of a woman of undoubted sanctity and larger ex
perience, as guide to the higher life. She made
application and was kindly received. After some
test she was enrolled in the Sisterhood : she writes
(Feby. 7, 1888):

" Yesterday was the 6th of February; the 6th
of February, 1856, was also Ash Wednesday. On
that day I was received as a candidate for the Sis
terhood of the Holy Communion, in the Oratory
of the Sisters House and by Dr. Muhlenberg;
just 32 years ago, and I was then thirty-two years
old."

22 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

On the Feast of the Purification, Feby. 2, 1857,
she was admitted into full membership, in the
new Sisterhood, and there, in the parish and in
St. Luke s Hospital, she worked assiduously and
lovingly for nearly seven years.*

The years thus spent brought practice and ex
perience ; they brought something else, the im
pression, dawning dimly, growing slowly, but
attaining finally to full conviction, that what Sis
ter Harriet wanted she had not found, and was
not in the way to find. She had, no doubt, from
the first her own ideal of life work ; it could not
be realized in the position in which she now found

* The following incident is related by Anne Ayres in
the Life of Dr. Muhlenberg : it occurred in the Infirmary
connected with the Church of the Holy Communion,
when a malignant contagious disease had gained a foot
hold there : referring to Dr. Muhlenberg s frequent visits
to the ward, she goes on to say :

" On one of these occasions he found a young proba
tionary Sister, rocking, as he lay wrapped in a blanket
within her arms, a little boy very ill with the loathsome
disease. She was singing a hymn for him, and the poor
child smiled as he looked up to her face, and forgot his
pain and restlessness. Dr. Muhlenberg came down from
the ward enamoured of the picture The very ideal of a
Sister of Charity. It was Sister Harriet." (See p. 276
of the "Life.")

FIRST ESSAY IN A SISTER S LIFE. 2$

herself. The works of Christian charity do not
lie on the same level, there are grades in that de
partment of human activity as in all others ;
ruder forms, and complete organisms towards
which the lower naturally lead the way. From
the woman of the world, who gives what of
time she can spare from its pressing demands to
some benevolent institution or charitable society;
thence to the Bible reader or parish visitor, who,
living on her modest little salary, devotes so many
hours per diem to looking up and ministering to
the poor of her district ; and on to the Deaconess,
or member of the parochial Sisterhood who serves
with a fuller consecration and yet with reserva
tions ; step by step may women pass till they
reach a point of unreserved surrender when the
world and its concerns are left behind as com
pletely as though they were dead to it and it was
dead to them. Such progress will be accounted
legitimate by the wise ; each grade has its own
grace and merit ; yet some are lower and some
higher ; there are here, as elsewhere, a first and a
last. The highest point of all was that at which
Sister Harriet was aiming ; like a dream of good
it possessed her mind and soul. The idea of a life
of complete and unconditional surrender to our
I,ord, led by a number of women in community,

24 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

bound to God by vow, and to each other by a Rule,
forming a family and a household, governing
themselves, under the sanction of Church author
ity but holding no allegiance to earthly master,
board, or trustee, or to any other but the Sov
ereign Himself ; realised in institutions for carry
ing on all works of mercy that woman can do, and
living a retired, sacramental life, in abstinence,
discipline, prayer, and constant worship : this was
the end of aspirations and desires which noth
ing less could satisfy and fill. Already such
organizations could be seen, in England ; the
great and growing communities at Clewer, East
Grinstead, and elsewhere ; the thing was no
dream but an accomplished fact ; why should not
fruits of faith like these grow on our American
vine ? That this ideal was not to be realized
where she was, became year after year distinctly
evident. Not that a person was wanting to lead
such a movement. The remarkable woman who
was known as First Sister in the Sisterhood
of the Holy Communion had the qualities which
fit for headship ; she might have made an Abbess,
with iron will and hand. But Sister Anne Ayres
had also her limitations ; her sympathies were not
with those who desired to reproduce the Angli
can, or, let us say, the Catholic, type of the Re-

FIRST ESSAY IN A SISTEK S LIFE. 2$

ligious Community in this country and in our
Church : her ideal of woman s work was of a less
pronounced and more free type. In this respect
also she was in accord with the man whom she
venerated above all others in this world. Read
ing what she has written, we see the perfect har
mony, the singular unity in view, opinion, and
mode of action, between the head of the Sister
hood and the venerable priest who had founded
it.* The Sisterhood of the Holy Communion, if
it was to continue and grow, must grow on lines
which they approved ; no one could serve there
unless in accord with the two who had begun and
would direct the movement. This was the posi
tion in which certain ladies found themselves who
had joined it with different aspirations : they saw
themselves barred out from the hope of realizing

* The views of Dr. Muhlenberg on the subject of Sister
hoods are given fully, and, I doubt not, with perfect
correctness, in the very interesting volume entitled " The
I/ife and Works of William Augustus Muhlenberg,"
by Anne Ayres. (New York, Harper & Brothers, 1880.)
It seems that he approved of them, " not as ecclesiastical
organizations but as simple evangelical associations";
he thought that they ought not to exist as corporations
in the legal sense of the term, nor to have a central gov
ernment, nor to be bound by any vow or rule, nor ever
to hold property in their own right. (See page 251 et seq.)

26

MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

what was to them the complete ideal of the Relig
ious Life. They came to that conclusion in great
sorrow and distress; but they came to it as one
which was inevitable. Watching them, at that
moment, we sympathize with their discomfiture:
we do more ; we feel, that as there are many
operations of the same Spirit, so it must be, in this
world, that some are called to work on one line
and some another. I will venture another sug
gestion. No society is patient of two very strong
and very positive heads. It is impossible to im
agine the woman whose career we are consider
ing as passing her life as a hospital nurse, or
a semi-detached deaconess ; she had abilities,
powers, a mind, a will, marking her out for
larger things : she was called of God to greater
work. One cannot imagine two such strong char
acters as Sister Anne Ayres and Sister Harriet
Cannon dwelling together harmoniously in the
somewhat indefinite relation of a parochial soci
ety. It was inevitable, it was for the best, that
they should part, each taking her own way ac
cording to her conscience and her light.

There were other women in the same position
as Sister Harriet; women moved by the same de
sire of consecrating themselves in the true Relig
ious I<ife; women who had been attracted to the

FIRST ESSA Y IN A SISTER S LIFE. 2J

work of St. Luke s Hospital and had come to join
the labourers there. Such as these had every
facility for working among God s poor, where they
were ; but beyond lay something which they per
ceived that they could not attain. They had been
drawn into a position from which they must retire;
the alternative being to remain at the sacrifice of
the promptings of conscience, the strong desire
for an advance, and the mature conviction of their
enlightened understanding.

The end came in the year 1863. Some troubles
which had existed for a considerable time then
came to an issue, and the First Sister resigned.
She appears to have done so because she thought
that her ideas in regard to governing the other
Sisters were not approved by most of them. She
said to one of them, who recorded her words at
the time: " There were only two things for me to
do either to rule with greater strictness than be
fore, or to withdraw. I chose the latter course."
Her companions, distressed at her action, refused
to accept her resignation ; but Dr. Muhlenberg,
to whom the matter had been referred, gave sen
tence that the Sisterhood had been dissolved by
the withdrawal of its head, and proposed that its
members should now form themselves into " a
Company of Christian Ladies, and work under

28 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

Miss Ayres as Matron of the Hospital." Four
of the little band found themselves more closely
united than ever by this action, and more ear
nestly resolved to find the way to the goal which
they were seeking. In sorrow they relinquished
the work in which they had been happy and hope
ful, and went back to their own homes ; not aban
doning their faith in the Religious Life and their
longing for it, but not knowing how, or when, or
where they were to attain the desire of their soul.
They went out not knowing whither they went,
but strong in faith in Him who is invisible.

The sorrows and disappointments of that day
belong to a distant era, and the grave has closed
over nearly all the actors in that little drama.
But Christian charity soon healed the wounds, of
which not even scars remain. All was of God.
Sister Harriet spoke often and with interest of
her apprenticeship served in the Sisterhood of the
Holy Communion ; reverently and affectionately
of its saintly founder and its first head. She was
one of those who cling to early friends; never
have I heard from her one word of criticism or
unkindly comment on those with whom she first
trod the way of the Cross. When Sister Anne,
after many years spent in seclusion, was called to
her rest, the Superior of the Sisterhood of St.

FIRST ESSAY IN A SISTER S LIFE. 2$

Mary was among those who stood nearest to her
bier, and watched with full and tender hearts the
committal of dust to dust. Blessed are the dead
who die in the lyord: Even so, saith the Spirit."

IV.

THE HOUSE OF MERCY.

THERE are men who are helps, and men who
are hindrances, at the turning points of
life. It was fortunate for those three or
four women, anxious, depressed, uncertain what
to do, that they had a friend in the great bishop,
Horatio Potter, who at that time was over us in
the Diocese of New York. He heard of what had
taken place, and came to the aid of the refugees,
with the offer of a work in which they might at
once engage. The House of Mercy had been
founded by Mrs. William Richmond, as a reform
atory for fallen women. She was a woman of
indomitable energy, with an enviable faculty for
obtaining money for carrying such projects into
effect; and she had acquired, for the purposes of
her work, the fine old Howland mansion, which
stood at the foot of 86th Street on what is now the
Riverside Drive. This property, including the
30

THE HOUSE OF MERCY. 31

large house and some twelve city lots, was held
for her by trustees ; a very valuable purchase ;
and there some forty or fifty unfortunates, for
the most part young, were housed and cared for,
in the hope of converting them from the path of
sin and bringing them home by the way of peni
tence, to the great Shepherd of souls. But Mrs.
Richmond, incessantly engaged in raising the
means to carry on the institution, and most of the
time absent, could give no attention to the task
of ruling and directing a class so turbulent and
desperate as that within the high enclosures of
the House of Mercy, where, indeed, things were
in a state of confusion. The Bishop of New
York, deeply interested in the work, and perceiv
ing the need of able and competent governors of
those wild waifs of civilization, bethought him of
the three or four women who, having been trained
in St. Luke s Hospital, and being then desirous
of an opportunity to resume their labours in some
mission field, might be open to a call to that hard
and delicate service. The result was an invita
tion to take charge of the House of Mercy ; its
glad acceptance ; and the prompt appearance of
Sister Harriet and her companions at the institu
tion. In all this they were cordially welcomed
and aided by the noble-minded foundress of the
House. This was in September, 1863.

32 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

When the Sisters took charge of the House of
Mercy, they were desperately poor : the sum
allowed to each of them for their support, from
the common fund, was only eight cents per diem.
The work was difficult and trying; it had, how
ever, a comical as well as a serious side. The
Howland mansion, like old-fashioned dwellings
of an earlier age, was one of those which ghosts
might haunt and in which strange sights might
appear. From the entrance, flanked with lofty
columns, one entered a very large hall, sur
rounded by rooms of proportionate size, used as
parlors, reception-rooms, dining-room, etc. Out
of the hall a broad staircase led to the stories
above. One of the rooms on the hall floor was
turned into a chapel. As the day went away,
the old place took on a shadowy and weird look.
Among the rooms were some which could be lit
up only by the help of candles ; dark shadows hid
much from view ; children could have found no
better place for hide-and-go-seek; uncomfortable
sensations were not wanting ; the occasional rat
might go scooting boldly from one dark corner to
another. In this old-fashioned place Mrs. Rich
mond had collected a considerable number of girls
from the streets of New York. They were wild
as hawks, impatient of constraint, often danger-

THE HOUSE OF MERCY. 33

cms, and always planning the means of escape.
Such was the place, and such the charge of which
these women had undertaken the interior govern
ment. In a very short time results began to
appear. Strong hands, loving hearts, compas
sionate souls took up the case of these unfortu
nates, in the Name of Christ ; under the influence
of the new, and to them strange, power, the
more violent spirits were curbed and refrained ;
order began to take the place of disorder ; the
acts of religion, if they did not yet avail to
change the hearts, at least compelled a rever
ence for holy things to which these unhappy
creatures had been strangers. Nothing is so dis
couraging as the work of reformation of fallen
women ; evil passion were enough of itself to
wreck the moral nature, but to this must be
added the craving for strong drink which always
accompanies lust ; until the physical system be
comes impregnated with vile potations to such a
degree that it seems next to impossible to revive
the moribund powers of conscience and the wish
for reform. In the noble army of Christian work
ers, the honourable position of forlorn hope is held
by those who labour for the reclamation of the
fallen and lost.

From one of those who went at that time to the

34 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

House of Mercy, and worked there till transferred
to another field, I recently received a pleasant ac
count of the life of the Sisters at that place, and
their varied difficulties in carrying out their trust.
This I shall transcribe, as an original contribu
tion to this history. It will be observed that she
speaks of Sister Harriet as the Mother, though
she had not then the title or the office. It will
also be observed by what steps and by what judi
cious measures the work was brought into shape.
Some of these reminiscences relate to days much
later than those of which I am writing; but they
help to fill out the picture and inform the reader
of the mode in which the reform proceeded.

" The life of Mother Harriet at the House of
Mercy was, from the beginning, marked by a
strict devotion to duty. Her great kindness of
heart, courtesy of manner, and good judgment
led the rest of us to look to her for guidance in all
matters of difficulty. Unfailing patience with the
infirmities of others, and even with their serious
faults, was one of her marked characteristics ;
things should be set right rather than punished.
She had that flexibility of character which
smooths difficulties. The lovely traits of Mother
Harriet s character were, perhaps, nowhere more
apparent than at the House of Mercy. She pos
sessed, as few do, the faculty of discovering what
is best in every one and bringing out the bright

THE HOUSE OF MERCY. 35

side of every person with whom she came in con
tact. She seldom found fault in words ; a dis
pleased look and silence had oftentimes more
effect than anything she could have said ; and the
impression given was, I leave all entirely in
God s hands. She was ready to measure the
capabilities of those who with her were devoting
their energies to the good of the unfortunate in
mates in the House. What could each do to se
cure the best results in the work ? This was to
be tested. The Mother shrank from no work
however menial that work might be. She showed
that rare quality which was so evident in all her
after life, of assigning to each one the work best
fitted for her. Those who were with her well
remember her industry. Great and absorbing as
the mental work was, her hands were never idle.
Her self-denying acceptance of the actual pov
erty, which at first existed at the House of Mercy,
when the Sisters were deprived of what are usu
ally called the necessaries of life, and the unfail
ing humor that enlivened those days of straitness
and want, has formed the stock of many amusing
stories related by the Sisters to those of subse
quent times. A merry heart makes a continual
feast ; it was indeed true of her. Her influence
over the unfortunate inmates was very soon felt.
Her unfailing amiability, her strong faith in the
good in another s heart, in spite of the sin of
which that heart may be guilty ; her winning sym
pathy, her beautiful example of true devotion to
her ever-present Ix>rd, could not fail to attract.
Many of those whom she influenced in those early
days, thirty years ago, have stood loyal to her
through all the changes of their subsequent lives;

36 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

and among the great number of persons who gath
ered at her grave, it is joyous to think were some
of those penitents, whom she had won for the
Master s glory.

Mother Harriet s poverty of spirit was always
marked by her acceptance of what was inferior
whenever a choice was given to her. It was
touching to find after her death, that of the gar
ments which came to hand to clothe her many
were those of departed Sisters, which she had
preferred to use instead of new ones.

" It was our custom to hold three services,
morning, noon, and evening; the last just before
retiring. Mother Harriet, being passionately fond
of music and possessing a beautiful voice, led the
singing at these services, in which the girls
heartily joined.

1 The ringing of the chapel bell was the signal
for the girls to run away ; among their various
hiding-places, the cow-house (for in those days we
kept a cow) was the place best adapted for that
purpose. The Sisters would therefore be com
pelled to start out in search of them and gather
them into the chapel ; not succeeding in getting
them altogether, they were brought in late one by
one. The absence of a Sister from the chapel
was the inevitable sign that she was looking up
some runaway girl. When the girls were left
alone they would delight in getting up the great
est possible excitement to see what effect it would
have upon the Sisters.

" Having no chaplain at the House at first, we
were dependent upon those who would come occa
sionally, or else were obliged to take the girls out
to service. On one of these occasions Bishop

THE HOUSE OF MERCY. 37

Coxe came, and, at his request, the household
was gathered together and a brief service held ; it
was a great comfort to the Sisters and an equally
great help to the girls, and left a lasting im
pression.

" After the house was partly in order typhoid
fever set in and six of the inmates were very seri
ously ill. All, however, recovered. On our first
Christmas (for we took charge in September) we
had the blessed privilege of having an early cele
bration, by the Rev. Dr. Charles Adams. That
was one of the marked things to be thankful for,
and we were thankful, too, for the recovery of our
patients.

" As the early spring and summer came we
were able to give out-door pleasures to the girls,
which helped them very much, for their confine
ment in the House during the entire winter was a
little irksome to them.

In the early days of the Institution we did
not know the best way to manage them. We
gave ourselves more trouble and them more care
than was really necessary. For instance, if any
of the girls got away we would think it our duty
to spend our time in search of them : entire days
were spent by the Sisters in looking up a girl.
Now, of course, it is quite different. We have
only to send a description of the missing one to
a police station, and she is very soon returned
to us.

" After a time the order of the House was
changed and the girls were separated and classi
fied. They were promoted, as in a school, from
one class to another, as they merited it. After a
time they became deeply interested in the teach-

38 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

ing; they were particularly fond of one of the Sis
ters, now departed ; she was of great service to
them and had great success in taming and calm
ing their unruly spirits.

After a time it was thought best to seek some
of the girls at the courts before they were com
mitted to the Island, where the tendency was to
sink lower and lower. Girls of the better class
were met who would gladly commit themselves to
the House of Mercy for two years or longer if nec
essary, to fit themselves for a respectable life; and
many of the most satisfactory cases brought to the
House were self-committed.

It was the aim of the Sisters to give religious
instruction at night, reading and talking, so that
they might go to bed with some serious impres
sion in mind, to drive out whatever wayward
thoughts they may have had during the day.

" As the work went on, improvements were
made, and means were freely given to the Sisters
to enable them to carry out their plans for the
good of the inmates. St. Mary Magdalene Day,
the 22d of July, was looked forward to with
pleasant anticipations. On that day they were
taken for a drive; the carriages of Central Park,
which held a considerable number, were engaged
for the occasion and the day was spent pleasantly
and happily by all. Their dinner was enlivened
by ice-cream and a liberal amount of candy, and
that day there was, above all, no work. How
ever, the girls did not dislike to work. It was
always the aim of the Sisters to bring out the en
couraging and loving traits of Mary Magdalene
and our Lord s deep compassion for that class,
which had a great effect upon them.

THE HOUSE OF MERCY. 39

" Easter and Christmas were high feasts for the
girls and looked forward to with joy. Privileges
were granted and feasts given.

In the Institution there was a class called the
Honor Class, to which the girls were promoted
according to their standing. The Sister having
that class under her special charge did everything
within her power to work a permanent reform in
those under their charge. They had a piano ;
and there would be music, reading of stories, and
relating pleasant incidents. Girls would often
come back to the House and ask particularly for
that one Sister, that they might tell her how well
they were getting along in their better life.

" It was soon found that the girls would im
prove more if they had some work to perform, and
to this end they were assigned to housework, laun
dry work, garden work, and the like. We also
had, for a time, a school where they were taught
to read, for some of them were unable to do so.
We found, however, that it was irksome for them
to keep still for any length of time ; active work
was best fitted for their life, in which they were
left with no time to think.

The House of Mercy was not only a home for
that unfortunate class of girls, but it has also been
a refuge and reformatory for many who were ad
dicted to drink and unmanageable."

This is the history of the House of Mercy in its
beginning. I have only to add that it was re
moved from its old site, several years ago, and
that a new House of Mercy stands on the Bolton
Road at Inwood, a conspicuous object on a wooded

4O MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

height overlooking the Hudson River. The work
has greatly increased ; new departments have been
added, and nothing has been omitted to render
it complete for its various purposes. It is still
served, as it has been from the time of its founda
tion, by members of the Sisterhood of S. Mary;
no words are adequate to express the value of
their assistance, and no other persons could have
accomplished what they have wrought. The
praise and honour for the successful labours of the
last thirty-three years belong to those Sisters who
had the House in their care through all that
length of time.

In this connexion mention may be made of the
first death in the Community. Sister Jane, one
of the original five, and in charge of the House of
Mercy, died there, after an illness of several
months, on St. James Day, July 25, 1868. She
had an exceptional power over the girls and was
devotedly loved by all who knew her. She de
parted at 9 o clock in the evening, the hour when
Compline is said. It is the rule that, after Com
pline, silence shall be kept throughout the House,
no word being spoken till the morning. With an
exquisite fitness, so often remarked in the histo
ries of God s people, deep stillness, even the silence
of death, fell on the House and its inmates as the

THE HOUSE OF MERCY. 41

soul passed. Unseen visitants would no doubt
have helped to enforce the rule, had the survivors
ventured to break it. The hush was awful: the
Lord was in that place, and all, dead and living,
kept silence before Him.

V.

PERSECUTION.

THE successful administration of this first
trust soon led to another invitation to Sis
ter Harriet and her companions. In 1864
they were asked to take charge of the Sheltering
Anns. This institution, founded by the Rev.
Thomas M. Peters, D.D., stood, at that time, on
the old Bloomingdale Road, at looth St., not far
distant from St. Michael s Church, of which Dr.
Peters was Rector. Into this house were received
children for whom there was no provision in other
charitable institutions ; not orphans, nor half-
orphans, nor crippled, nor sick, but such as were
even more destitute and helpless, owing to pecu
liar conditions; children of vicious or brutal par
ents, neglected, waifs, friendless : such as these
found shelter there in the arms of Christian love.
The episode of the Sheltering Arms was at

once painful and profitable. I shall tell the story
42

PERSECUTION. 43

plainly, because it shows that the development
and splendid advance of the Sisterhood, and all
that came thereafter, were the result of the disci
pline of a petty persecution which they then
passed through.

But first it is to be noted, that a great step was
taken, soon after that time, in the way of organi
zation into an incorporated society. The four
who went out from St. Luke s Hospital had been
held together thus far merely by the bond of a
personal attachment and a common aim. But
Sister Harriet felt that the time had come for set
tlement upon a stronger basis, and for the devel
opment of what was in the hearts and minds of
all. The aid of the Bishop of New York was
sought ; he was asked whether he would sanction
the formation of a Sisterhood, to be under his own
supervision, but with the power to work out,
under rule, the full ideal of Community I/ife. To
this request the venerable prelate gave careful at
tention; a scheme was drawn up and submitted
to him ; principles were settled, broad outlines
drawn; the plan, after having been submitted to
a committee of presbyters for consideration, met
his approval ; and he announced his readiness to
meet the wishes of his daughters in Christ. The
Feast of the Purification, 1865, was a memorable

44 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

day in the annals of our branch of the Church.
On that day the Sisterhood of St. Mary came
into existence. In St. Michael s Church, in the
forenoon, five devout women were formally re
ceived by Bishop Potter, as the first members of
a society for the performance of all spiritual and
corporal works of mercy that Christians can per
form, and for the quest of a higher life in perfect
consecration of body, soul, and spirit to our I/ord.*
It was the first instance of the profession of Sis
ters by a Bishop since the time of the Reforma
tion, in our communion : it was a step beyond
any that had been taken up to that time in Eng
land. There the great Sisterhoods were not under
Episcopal control, nor had they the advantage of
direct Episcopal sanction. Their members were
admitted by priests, and the management of their
affairs was entirely in their own hands. It was
the wish of these faithful women to have the
Bishop for their father, and be permitted to look

* A provision embodied in the original report to the
Bishop states that the work of a Sister is to be held to
"include all the corporal and spiritual works of mercy
which a woman may perform, and that the idea as well
of a contemplative life of prayer and devotion, as of an
active life of labour, be included in the office. But
especially that she be devoted to the care of the sick and
to the work of educating the young."

PERSECUTION. 45

to him as their spiritual head. That wish was
granted, to their great joy, and all was now hap
pily begun in conformity with the ancient Catho
lic rule, that nothing be done without the Bishop.
Manifestly, some great things were to come of
this beginning. Let every point be reverently
noted. The day, the place, the hour have been
recorded. The names of the five then professed
were as follows :

Harriet Starr Cannon,
Jane C. Haight,
Sarah C. Bridge,
Mary B. Heartt,
Amelia W. Asten.

The Feast of the Purification has been kept
ever since as the anniversary of the foundation of
the Society.

An act of incorporation was obtained from the
Legislature of the State of New York, conferring
on the new Society, in addition to the usual statu
tory powers, others peculiar to themselves ; a spe
cial charter covering everything that could be
desired for growth, government, and efficiency in
work. Perhaps the most important provision was
that no change may be made in the fundamental

46 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

law of the Institution without the joint consent
and approval of the Bishop of New York on the
one side and the Sisters assembled in Chapter on
the other.

The act of incorporation bears date in May,
1865; it was granted soon after the founding of
the new Sisterhood. Early in the month of Sep
tember in the same year, in the sacristy of St.
Luke s Church, Hudson St., an election was held,
at which Sister Harriet was chosen, by the unani
mous vote of her companions, to be Superior; an
office to which she was repeatedly re-elected, and
which she held on the day when she entered into
rest. Henceforth the title of Mother shall be
applied to her as I continue this narrative.

One word more as to the event of Feby. 2d,
1865. It illustrates the humility of Sister Harriet
and her devotion to her duties. On that day she
was engaged in nursing a child ill of the small
pox. When the time for the ceremony at the
church arrived, she with great reluctance laid
down the child, and went off to St. Michael s.
As soon as the service was over she returned with
all speed to the church, and resumed the charge
of the little patient. In one of her letters I find
her recurring with some amusement to the inci
dent:

PERSECUTION. 47

" I remember the day just twenty years ago,
when we five stood before the altar at St. Mi
chael s, and how I slipped away from my small
pox patient to be professed ! ! "

A Rule was subsequently drawn up, containing
the provisions necessary for carrying the design
of the incorporation into effect. It owes its char
acter to the intelligence and wisdom of the foun
der. It deals with the work of the Community,
its form of government, its officers, and members,
its mode of transacting business, its property, and
the general regulation of affairs. The supreme
power is vested in the Chapter, composed of pro
fessed Sisters. The Superior is a constitutionally
appointed officer, chosen for a fixed term, and
eligible for re-election. This is the Outer Rule.
There is, in addition, an Inner Rule, which relates
to the religious observances of the Community,
and their devotional life and spiritual discipline.

To proceed with our narrative. The Sisters
took charge of the Sheltering Arms in 1864: their
connexion with it was not dissolved till 1870. In
the meantime further demands upon their services
were made. St. Barnabas House, in Mulberry
St. near Bleecker, an institution under the charge
of the New York City Mission Society, needed
an efficient interior management, and in the year

4 8

MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

1867, on the request of that Society, it was also
placed under their care. Of this latter institution
they had charge for nearly two years.

In the Sheltering Arms the development of
that life which the Sisterhood had so long been
seeking began. The day had dawned. They
recited daily offices ; they observed the seven
canonical hours. One writes of that time :

" In these things a lovely trait of dear Mother
Harriet was plainly seen and felt. Her deep devo
tion of spirit, however pressing were the labours of
the day, brought peace. Her voice would sound
out far beyond the little oratory, and many of the
children and workers would look forward with
pleasure to the Vesper hour; and eagerly would
the children expect the nine o clock service, which
the Mother always led, when Ps. xv. was sung
responsively. Her heart was full of love and ten
derness for these poor little ones. As usual she
was always seeking the comfort of others, and
bearing personal inconvenience with an uncom
plaining spirit."

The work at St. Barnabas House was of a
different character. Mrs. William Richmond had
opened a house under that name for the temporary
care of infants and homeless young mothers. The
Sisters managed to take care of the infants, for a
short time, at the House of Mercy, and this was
the beginning of what is now an Infant Asylum.

PERSECUTION. 49

At a subsequent date the City Mission Society
opened St. Barnabas House for homeless women
and children ; of this, on the invitation of the
trustees and with the consent of the Bishop, the
Sisters now took charge. Women seeking em
ployment and situations were allowed to remain
there one week, until they could obtain work or be
transferred to other institutions. Many who had
been discharged from the hospitals were received
there and cared for during their convalescence.
Daily morning and evening services were held in
the Chapel, and it was understood that the duty
of the Sister was not only to relieve bodily wants
but also to give spiritual help and aid. A work
for the rescue of the fallen formed a part of the
general plan. A room was hired on Broadway
and nth St., in which evening service, with short
addresses and singing, was held; a carriage was
in readiness; and those who could be persuaded
to make an effort to forsake their evil life, were at
once taken to St. Barnabas House, received by
the Sisters, and, whenever it seemed desirable,
transferred to the House of Mercy. The great
work done then, and ever since, to this day, at
St. Barnabas is too well known to the citizens of
New York to need further description here.
During the sojourn of the Sisters at the Shel-

50 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

taring Arms, Mother Harriet was taken ill of
typhoid fever. Her strength, and all her powers
had been overtaxed. For many weeks the result
was doubtful. A long rest was ordered, after her
recovery, until she had completely regained her
health.

With the House of Mercy, the Sheltering Arms,
and St. Barnabas House in their charge, the Sis
ters had all they could desire in the way of active
employment. And yet, if things had remained
in that position, the object of their organization
could not have been fulfilled. Those institutions
were under the charges of managing Boards and
Trustees, to whom all must defer, and by whose
wishes they must be controlled; independent ac
tion would have been impossible, and the develop
ment of their plans for the restoration of the Re
ligious Life in Community would have depended
on the assent and approval of persons perhaps
not in sympathy with their views and intentions.
To be released from a possibly unfriendly re
straint, and to build on their own foundation, was
necessary, if the Community was to become a
power in the Church. We think that the hand
of an overruling Providence can be plainly seen
in what next occurred. To tighten the bonds by
which they were already held was the way to

PERSECUTION. 5 1

bring about a removal of the obstacles in the way
of advance, and to send these toilers once more
from quiet places, poor but free.

The trouble began at St. Barnabas House.
The reception of the five Sisters by Bishop Potter,
the impressive scene at St. Michael s Church, and
the growth of the little society for others had
been added to their number at length attracted
public attention. The journals of the city had
given highly coloured accounts of the new so
ciety, its objects and aims, and the Protestantism
of the day at last took the alarm. What was this
thing thus growing up amidst us ? What were
these so-called Sisters, these " nuns," these
Romanists in disguise ? What had the
Bishop done ? And what more might be com
ing ? Was it true that there were to be Habits,
and a Rule, and Vows ? little by little, curios
ity led to inspection, and inspection to serious
disquietude. The trouble began at St. Barnabas
House. Among the most active of the trustees
was the estimable pastor of a prominent city
parish, a lovable man, of warm heart and great
zeal, but nervously sensitive to censure on the
part of the evangelical public. In the parish
of which he was the Rector before he came to
New York, there were many Irish Orangemen :

52 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

these good people were greatly scandalized by the
discovery of little crosses engraved on the chalice
and paten of the Communion service : the Rector,
to propitiate them, sent the vessels to a silver
smith and had the objectionable symbols carefully
erased. It may be imagined with what anxiety
a person of this disposition would watch the
proceedings of those to whom the care of St.
Barnabas House and its beneficiaries had been
intrusted. In the manner in which the services
were conducted there was nothing to reprehend;
nor yet in the ministrations to the poor or the
instruction of the ignorant. But the question
was raised : what might the Sisters be doing in
the privacy of their rooms ? What prayers did
they say there ? What offices did they recite ?
What manuals of devotion might be on their
tables ? These questions led to a formal demand
that the Trustees should have the access to the
Sisters private apartments, as visitors, with the
right to inspect all books and manuals used by
them in their prayers, and that no books should
be so used except such as were approved by
the Trustees. Once satisfied that the alternative
lay between submitting to such inquisitorial
interference, or withdrawing from the House,
they promptly made their choice, and, one morn-

PERSECUTION. 53

ing, quietly took their few and scanty belongings
and went away.

So then there were left in their charge only the
Sheltering Arms and the House of Mercy. The
Sheltering Arms had been recently founded, and
was dependent for support on the contributions
and donations of its friends among the Church
people of the city. It was a popular charity; but
its helpers were of that class who will aid only
what pleases them, and may be easily influenced
to withdraw their subscriptions. The feeling
against the Sisters grew, and spread more widely
on the report that they had been forced (for so
the adversary put it) to leave St. Barnabas
House. And now began what amounted to a
persecution on a small scale illustrating the
acrimony of religious prejudice and the violence
of Protestant antipathy. The Sisterhood became
the object of comment, criticism, and animad
version; it was discussed in the fashionable cir
cles of New York society; an intense curiosity
to see those strange and dangerous creatures
led to visits of inspection to the Sheltering Arms.
Ladies of high social position took up the mat
ter; it was no uncommon thing to see them, of
an afternoon, driving thither in their handsome
carriages, entering the building, demanding in-

54 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

terviews with the Sisters, examining them as if
they were wild animals in a menagerie, question
ing, browbeating, catechising them, and even
sometimes going so far as to pluck at their gar
ments to see of what material they were made.
Thus the excitement grew and spread, until it
became apparent that the presence of the Sisters
was detrimental to the interests of the institution,
and that many subscriptions and contributions
would be withdrawn if they continued in charge.
It was impossible to resist the pressure ; in due
time Mother Harriet and her associates found that
their presence was no longer desired; and with
sad hearts and a burning sense of injustice they
withdrew.

This is a pitiful story; but at this distance it
awakens no regret except that religious bigotry
should at any time have had such sway among
us. To the Community, the persecution was
most helpful; it threw them on themselves; it
made some warm friends for them ; it showed
them that to be done efficiently their work must
be done in houses of their own, subject to no nag
ging interference and secure from molestation ;
and so it led, under the Providence of God, to all
that came after, step by step, and year by year,
until now we see them, increased tenfold in num
ber, firmly planted in half a dozen dioceses of the

PERSECUTION.

55

Church, holders of a very large amount of valua
ble property in houses and land east, west, and
south, having their own schools, hospitals, and
Mother house ; growing in the possession of all
things needed to a vastly extended work, and in
favour with God and man.

Nor let me omit to add that if, at that time,
the society women of New York displayed a
spirit unworthy of themselves, they have amply
atoned for the errors of that past day. Those
bitter prejudices are dead, and beyond the chance
of revival ; a generous and gracious appreciation
of all good has grown up in their place. I my
self have recently seen, in the reception room of
one of the finest mansions in Madison Avenue, a
great assemblage of ladies of high social position
brought together to meet a poor lay brother of
Nazareth in quest of help for his work. I saw
him face to face with that fair and friendly assem
blage, in his brown habit with the knotted cord
about his waist ; and I saw the generous and
broad-minded Rector of St. Bartholomew s stand
ing beside his humble brother and affectionately
and earnestly speaking in his behalf. Thus hath
God wrought in our time ; and blessed be His
holy Name.

The storm which beat upon the Sisters at that
time did its best to drive them from the House of

56 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

Mercy, as it had done from the other institutions
in which they had served; but here its force was
stayed and broken. Some agitation occurred, but
a large majority of the Trustees had the courage
and independence to stand, unshaken by the clam
ours and criminations of the hour. They never
lost their confidence in Mother Harriet, nor did
they ever consider the question of withdrawing
what they had committed to her and her devoted
companions. Beneath the surface ripples was a
great depth of appreciation, affection, and confi
dence. The House of Mercy is still in the charge
of the Sisters of St. Mary as it has been since the
year 1863.*

* See an interesting communication in the Church
Eclectic, of April, 1896, entitled: " Mother Harriet of the
Sisterhood of St. Mary. A Sketch. By the Right Rev.
George F. Seymour, D.D., I/L.D., Bishop of Springfield.
Young Churchman Co., Milwaukee, Wis." Dr. Sey
mour was Chaplain of the House of Mercy for several
years, including the year 1867. He states that "when
the Sisters were removed under coercion from the Shel
tering Arms, in obedience to a published protest against
them, with an implied threat that supplies would in
future be withheld from the institution if they were suf
fered to remain in charge, the House of Mercy opened
her arms to receive the fugitives ; and then the further
effort was contemplated to drive us all, sisters and chap
lain, from the House of Mercy and leave us without
shelter." But it failed, most fortunately for the work.

VI.

ADVANCE, DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH.

WE come to the beginning of a new era in
this history. It is our pleasant task to
trace the growth of the work done by
the Sisterhood from the time when they began to
build on their own foundations, to the present
day. The period is one of twenty-five years; we
must pass over it as rapidly as possible.

Among the objects proposed in the summary of
the duties of the Community is Christian educa
tion. Mother Harriet had this much at heart;
the Sisterhood should be a praying Sisterhood, a
nursing Sisterhood, a missionary Sisterhood, a
teaching Sisterhood : she deemed the instruction
of the young one of the most necessary and valu
able of the works of faith ; and to this she now
addressed her efforts; the first thing to be estab
lished was a Christian School. A small house
was rented in 46th St. between Fifth and Sixth
57

58 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

Avenues ; a few children came ; and, very mod
estly and quietly, without parade or sensation,
the work was commenced. The little school in
time became a great school; among the Sisters
were some women who had been trained as teach
ers; this was the opportunity to lift their work to
a higher plane. No long time had passed before
it was found that they needed more room. What
should be done ? It happened (if that word be
appropriate to anything in this record) that a very
large house had been erected by a celebrated edu
cator of the day, who, however, through financial
embarrassment, found himself compelled to give
up his design. The building, just as it was com
pleted and ready for occupation as a school, was
left on his hands, embarrassed with workmen s
liens, and fit for nothing but the use for which it
had been planned. It was at No. 8 East 46th St.,
opposite the Windsor Hotel ; a large and commo
dious structure of about 40 feet front, and contain
ing every appointment needed for a high class
school for girls. On this property the Reverend
Mother looked with longing eyes but little hope;
till suddenly and unexpectedly the means were of
fered to her for its purchase, the liens were all paid,
and she found herself in possession of the house
and lot in fee. To remove from their smaller quar-

ADVANCE, DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH. 59

ters was the work of a short time, and St. Mary s
School was opened. It has increased and grown
till it is now one of the largest in New York.
The work of education has been developed, the
standard of scholarship raised ; its graduates easily
pass the entrance examination for Barnard Col
lege and take creditable places among the stu
dents. The memory of Sister Agnes is cherished
there ; she was the head of the school for many
years, and to her in great part is it indebted for
its high reputation.

The house in 46th St. served also for a kind of
headquarters of the Community; there the Mother
resided, and there the novices were lodged and
trained. A room appropriately fitted up and fur
nished as a chapel was used for the school ser
vices, and also for the devotional offices of the
little Community, who recited the Hours there.
Great was their content in having at last a dwell
ing apt for their uses, where they were secure
from molestation, in the liberty of the daughters
of God. I well remember those days, and espe
cially the chapel services and the holy religion of
the place. After some time the room was rear
ranged and enlarged; a painting by Father Derby
was placed over the altar ; other large pictures,
also gifts, adorned the walls. The stalls were in-

60 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

creased in number so as to make places for some
thirty persons ; the Sisters used to wonder whether
there would ever be enough to fill them; three
times the number of stalls are now in the choir
of the Church at St. Gabriel s.

The next undertaking of the Community was a
Hospital for children. A very modest beginning
was made; a house 12 \ feet wide was rented at
206 West 4oth St., and the work was begun.
One of the Sisters who had worked at the Shelter
ing Arms was called in to inspect the place and
give her opinion on its fitness for the purpose.
This Sister had become noted in the Community
for a special interest in funerals; it used to be said
of her that her patron Saint was Joseph of Arima-
thea. When a child died at the Sheltering Arms,
she would set out on foot and trudge beside the
body, accompanying it to its burial at St. Mi
chael s cemetery, at Astoria. This good Sister,
after a careful inspection of the premises, an
nounced that there appeared to her to be only one
serious drawback, the staircase was so narrow that
she thought it would be very difficult to carry
down the body of a large child ! Notwithstand
ing, the little house was rented and three or four
children were received. How vastly, how won
derfully, that blessed work has grown ! The out-

ADVANCE, DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH. 6 1

come of that venture of faith is seen in the large
buildings having a frontage of 92 feet on West
34th St. near Ninth Avenue. These have come,
one by one, in time; and now St. Mary s Hospital
for Children ranks next to St. Luke s in the Hos
pitals of our Church in New York. It provides
for 125 patients; it has already 52 endowed beds;
and it is always full. The Out-door Department,
which was started in 1881, has steadily increased.
By a gift of $41,000 from a lady in this city a Dis
pensary, Mortuary Chapel, and Autopsy Room
were also erected in 1894. The Hospital has
been for years in the charge of Sister Catharine;
one who was, as might be said, an adopted child
of Sister Harriet in her youth; the wise, tender,
and calm administrator of a great trust.

The next acquisition of the Community was
that of the property at Peekskill-on-the-Hudson,
now known as St. Gabriel s. The school in 46th
St. had grown rapidly ; but its progress was
checked by want of accommodation, as the house
had to serve, not only for the school, but also as
a residence for several of the Sisters, and particu
larly for the Novices, who were now coming in
considerable numbers. Mother Harriet looked
forward to an establishment of some kind in the
country; in fact it had become necessary; and she

62 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

wisely considered that the establishment of a
suburban school might be an aid to that design.
Accordingly, in 1872, they purchased a piece of
ground, about 30 acres in extent, on the heights
to the north of Peekskill, and opened a school
there by the name of St. Gabriel s. When it had
become thoroughly established, those of the Sis
ters in 46th St. who were not engaged in St.
Mary s School, were transferred to Peekskill, to
gether with the entire Novitiate, and thenceforth
the Mother Superior made her residence there.
St. Gabriel s has become, in time, perhaps, the
most important of their possessions ; partly by
purchase, and partly by gifts, some of great
value, it has been enlarged and enriched, till it
now contains many buildings, with about 50 acres
of land. On entering the grounds, by a gate
opening from the highway, the visitor first sees
on the left a large dwelling house, to which the
school girls have given the name of the Castle,
and in which some of the older pupils are lodged.
To the right is another large building, known as
the Noyes Memorial Home, opened in 1889 for
the reception of otherwise homeless children from
St. Mary s Hospital, suffering from chronic ail
ments as well as for convalescents from long ill
ness requiring bracing air; in that Home, given

ADVANCE, DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH. 63

by a widow in memory of her husband, formerly
a clergyman of the City of New York, some 50
children are annually cared for. Passing on, the
road takes a turn and ascends, commanding a
view of the lower Hudson down to the Palisades;
next appears the Chapel, to the left. Still farther
on, at some distance, partly concealed by trees, is
the school building, with accommodation for forty
boarders; and next to it is the Convent, now too
small, and always inconvenient. The grounds
beyond are covered with the forest growth of many
years; a tarn of small dimensions meets the eye,
its northern side faced by a cliff known as St.
Peter s Rock. Farther on is the Cemetery, and
around and beyond are woods and thickets which
afford a pleasant place of exercise, recreation, and
amusement, where no annoyance need be feared
and no molesting foot can intrude.

All that I have described has come by degrees,
within the last twenty years or more ; another
conspicuous monument of the foresight, energy,
prudence, and business capacity of the head of the
Sisterhood. For many years St. Gabriel s has
been the point from which the whole work has
been directed, the Mother Superior having her
residence and office there, and thence carrying on
her large and varied correspondence.

64 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

The following year, 1873, marks another epoch
in the history; then was made the first advance
beyond the limits of the Diocese of New York.
The Right Rev. Dr. Quintard, Bishop of Tennes
see, sent an urgent invitation to Mother Harriet
for Sisters to take charge of a school and a chari
table institution at Memphis, in his diocese. The
Mother had always an enthusiastic missionary
spirit ; in a letter written several years afterwards,
I find these words:

Bishop Worthington asks us to go to Ne
braska; and we are asked to go to Philadelphia;
and we are asked to go to China. I hope some
day we may go to China."

Bishop Quintard s invitation, after careful con
sideration, was accepted, and three or four Sisters
were sent to Memphis.

I have received from one of the Sisters at Mem
phis, a communication, giving full and very inter
esting details of the beginning and progress of the
work in the South. A part of it I insert as fol
lows:

" Sewanee, Tenn.,

" June 22d, 1890.
" Dear Dr. Dix :

Our dear Mother asks me to send you some
reminiscences of our Mother Foundress, associ
ated with our Southern work.

ADVANCE, DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH. 65

" Our Mother had a deep affection for her na
tive Southern land. Her heart was always
touched by the pathetic poverty and unworldli-
ness of its simple folk, especially the darkey,
and full of admiration for the fine qualities of its
cultured people. She used to say There are two
kinds of Southern ladies, the languid kind that
can do nothing and the accomplished kind that
can do most things better than any one else.

" In 1869 Bishop Quintard, whom Mother had
known from her girlhood, begged for the estab
lishment of a Branch of St. Mary s in Tennessee.
He brought to the Community three ladies from
Tennessee, aspirants to the Religious life, and in
1873 the Southern Branch of the Community was
established at Memphis. The work consisted of
St. Mary s School and the charge of the Church
Orphans Home. The Mother made her first visit
to Tennessee in December of that year. St. Mary s
School then occupied the Bishop s residence on
the west side of the little Cathedral. Mother en
joyed her visit heartily, finding much of the life
new to her. She had not been South (I believe)
since her childhood. During this visit Mother
arranged the purchase of the property adjoining
the Church on the east side, for St. Mary s
School, though the permanent building was not
begun till the spring of 1878 and was completed
in 1888.

" Mother made nine visits to the work in
Tennessee. On her second visit South she went
to Mobile and spent some days with the Deacon
esses in charge of the Orphanage in that city.
From Mobile she went by steamboat up the Mo
bile River to visit her relations in Alabama, among

66 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET,

whom was her cousin, John English, whom she
loved as a dear brother.

" In 1878, when the Mississippi Valley was
afflicted by the terrible epidemic of yellow-fever,
Mother expressed an earnest desire to go South
to comfort and aid the Sisters in their overwhelm
ing suffering and work. But this was not thought
expedient by the Community. Her loving heart
was almost broken by the great losses sustained at
that time, especially by the death of the beloved
Sister Constance. She came South as soon as the
epidemic was over and spent Christmas of 1878
with us. She gladly consented to the continu
ance of the Southern work, enfeebled though it
was by the death of all the Southern Sisters but
one. During her visit to Tennessee in 1887
Mother visited Nashville and Sewanee for the
purpose of selecting a locality for a country home
for the Southern Community. She chose Sewanee
because it was the site of the University of the
South and because of its fine mountain air and
scenery. The place now known as St. Mary s
on the Mountain, or The House of the Trans
figuration, was then purchased and dedicated on
the Feast of the Transfiguration, 1888. The suf
fering and ignorance of the poor mountain people
appealed strongly to the Mother s tender heart
and she interested many of her personal friends in
that mission work at Sewanee."

The work in the South thus described by one
of the labourers there, was undertaken with a
deep sense of responsibility, but without hesita
tion. It seemed to be on the line of their hopes,

ADVANCE, DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH. 67

intentions, and prayers. It has been greatly
blessed, every way. Many postulants and novices
have been sent to the Mother House in the North,
young women of enthusiasm and devotion, and
thus the gift to the Bishop of Tennessee twenty-
six years ago has been returned sevenfold.

Let us turn next to New York. There is at
No. 50 Varick St. a large six-story house next to
S.t. John s Chapel, which for more than half a
century was the Rectory of Trinity Church. It
was built for Bishop Hobart, when the Park and
neighbourhood were the Faubourg St. Germain
of our city: he dwelt there and so did his suc
cessor, the Rev. Dr. William Berrian, upon whose
death, in 1862, it became the residence of the pres
ent incumbent. About the year 1871, the Vestry,
thinking it desirable that the Rectory should be
at a more central point, proposed to the Rector a
removal farther up town. To this he strongly
objected, but finally assented, on condition that
the ancient building should neither be sold nor
leased for secular purposes but converted to some
charitable use. Approving the suggestion, and
acting on his advice, the Vestry of Trinity Church
decided to turn the Rectory into an infirmary or
Parish Hospital, for the benefit of our own poor
and of others where room could be had. This

68 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

having been done, it was a question how the work
should be carried on; and application was made
to Mother Harriet for a Sister to take charge of
the new foundation, and as many more as might
be needed to help her. The Reverend Mother
hesitated as to compliance with the request; paro
chial Sisterhoods constitute a class by themselves;
in no sense was the Community of St. Mary a
parish organization ; it formed a part of no parish ;
it was responsible to the Bishop only; and experi
ence had taught the danger of entangling alli
ances. But considering that the Rector of Trinity
was at that time also the Pastor of the Sisters,
and in deference to his wishes for which he has
ever been dutifully grateful, consent was given.
A Sister was sent, with helpers; and thus a new
branch of the work was added in the largest and
oldest of the parishes of New York.

The annual reports of Trinity Infirmary, or
Trinity Hospital as it is now called, show a vast
amount of work done there, without compensa
tion, for people labouring under the oppression of
sickness and passing through the valley of the
shadow of death : but no one has yet written, nor
could statistics tell, the story of the spiritual force
exerted there upon the sick in heart and the dis
tressed in soul and spirit. The ministrations of

ADVANCE, DEVELOPMENT, GKOWTH. 69

the Sisters to the weak, the penitent, the unhappy
have been quite as abundantly blessed as those of
the medical staff to the bodies of their patients.
It has been emphatically a mission work ; the
stories of persons who, during illness, have there
been reclaimed or converted to Christ, are numer
ous and deeply affecting; the priests of St. John s
Chapel have been daily visitors to the wards ;
many they have prepared for baptism, confirma
tion, Holy Communion, and death ; many who
entered the door with scarce a hope for this world
or the next have gone forth strong in faith, new
creatures in body and spirit, refreshed and well.
By degrees some other branches of Christian work
have been added to the Hospital service: guilds
have been formed, classes instructed ; by large
additions to the building, room has been gained
for a beautiful Chapel, where priestly ministra
tions are extended to people not needing medical
aid, and Retreats and Quiet Days have been con
ducted from season to season. All this work,
large in range, and most important in a religious
aspect, has been under the constant and devoted ob
servation of the Sister Eleanor, for the last twenty-
two years Superintendent of the Hospital.

Nor are the labours of the Sisters limited to the
precincts of St. John s Chapel. For sixteen years

7O MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

they have had charge of the Trinity Mission
House, labouring in the vast field between the
Battery and Chambers St., as helpers to the
Clergy stationed in that part of the parish. It
must suffice to have made mention of this great
work, in which they have been so devotedly en
gaged; the glimpse will be enough for the reader,
already, perhaps, becoming bewildered with the
extent and variety of their labours.

But, to anticipate somewhat, I shall postpone
the story of Memphis, and complete this survey
of the field over which the eyes of the Mother
were constantly ranging, and to every portion of
which her great heart was hourly going out, by
mentioning their entrance into two more dioceses,
Wisconsin and Chicago.

In the year 1870, when Dr. William E. Armi-
tage was Bishop of Wisconsin, he founded at
Kenosha a School for Girls, as a memorial to his
venerated predecessor, Bishop Kemper, which was
intended to become eventually a home for a Sis
terhood for Church School teaching." This
School, established and opened in the autumn of
that year, was carried on with difficulty and in
different success for about seven years, when it
became obvious that something must be done to
rescue it from impending failure.

ADVANCE, DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH. /I

At a meeting of the Trustees, held Sept. 15,
1877, the Rev. Jas. de Koven, D.D., offered a
resolution setting forth the long entertained desire
of the Board that the School should be in the
hands of a Sisterhood, and alleging that the
time had come when a change in the management
must be made. Upon the adoption of this resolu
tion, the Bishop of the Diocese, the Right Rev.
Dr. E. R. Welles, wrote at once to Mother Har
riet, and received her reply as follows:

" St. Gabriel s, Nov. 8th, 1877.
" To THE RIGHT REVD. E. R. WELLES.
Rev. and Dear Sir :

1 I write this morning to say that, God will
ing, we will send two Sisters to take charge of
Kemper Hall the next scholastic year. We feel
that this is a great venture of faith, still, if God
calls, we must have no fears, but go lovingly forth
in His Name. The Sisters whom I propose to
send will, I think, in every respect prove equal to
the task assigned them. I will write a line to Dr.
de Koven to-day. Commending our little Com
munity to your prayers, I am,
" Rev. Father in God,

" Faithfully yours,

" ^ HARRIET, Mr. Supr.,
" Sisters of S. Mary."

In June, 1878, the Sisters came, and the School
opened under their charge in the following Sep
tember.

72 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

So great was the success which followed under
the new management, that in January, 1886, the
Board of Trustees vacated their office, and turned
the School over to the Sisters, by the following
resolution:

" The Trustees of Kemper Hall, recognizing
the thoroughness of the work of the Sisters of St.
Mary, and desiring to secure their permanent care
of this Institution, propose the following plan to
the Sisters of St. Mary :

" That the Sisters of St. Mary become the
Trustees of Kemper Hall in place of the present
Trustees (who are willing to resign in their favour)
and thereby to be vested with all the power and
obligations of the present Corporation."

This arrangement was accepted, May, 1886.
The Board of Trustees now consists of the Bishop
of Milwaukee, ex-officio, the Mother Superior and
Sisters of St. Mary, and some one man of business
ability selected by the Sisters to be their adviser
when his services may be needed.

When the Sisters took charge of the School in
1878, there was a large indebtedness, with an
annual deficit, for which the Trustees provided by
borrowing from time to time, thus increasing the
debt. To this the Sisters strongly objected.
Since they became the Trustees in 1886, the situ-

ADVANCE, DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH. 73

ation changed ; a large part of the debt has
already been paid, and the financial condition is
sound. The property is beautifully situated on
Lake Michigan, the incursions of which are pre
vented by a very large breakwater which cost a
great sum to build and requires a considerable
annual outlay to keep in order. The grounds are
attractive, and defended by magnificent pines and
cedars from the prairie winds. Many new build
ings have been erected, including a large refec
tory, chemical and physical laboratories, studio
and class-rooms, and enlarged dormitories. The
School opened in 1870 with 10 boarding pupils
and 3 day scholars; in 1883 it had 30 boarders,
and for the last two years there have been 90
boarders besides a considerable number of day
scholars. It is said, in the Report of the School,
that there has never been a death among pupils
resident at Kemper Hall since the Sisters took
charge in 1878, nor any epidemic illness there.
Such is the record of a work which God has
blessed.

Of the spiritual work done at Kenosha much
might be said. In that connexion occur the
names of Bishops Welles, Knight, and Nicholson,
all devoted to the interests of Church extension
and Christian education at that centre of intellec-

74 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

tual, moral, and spiritual life in their portion of
the field : and with tender recollections we muse
of James de Koven, I,ucien L,ance, John J. Elmen-
dorff, who all laboured in the work and were in
their times helpers of Kemper Hall.

From several other quarters invitations have
come since that day, asking their presence and
their help. Nearly all of these have been denied
for want of numbers sufficient to meet the demand.
How vast the force required for such a range of
labours ! It will be seen, when the reader comes
to the Story of Memphis, how this almost enthu
siastic appreciation of the work of women in Com
munity and devoted to our Blessed I^ord grew so
fast and became so strong. With heartfelt pain,
the Mother found herself at last unable to answer
Yes to the requests which poured into her office
at St. Gabriel s. One, however, she forced her
self to comply with ; it was that of the Bishop of
Chicago, the Right Rev. Dr. McL,aren, who, in
1891, asked her aid in connexion with the mission
work at his Cathedral, in that enormous and most
perplexing, if not unintelligible, metropolis of the
West. The Sisters were already established
firmly in that city.

Mother Harriet seems to have set her heart on
the settlement in Chicago, fully realizing the im-

ADVANCE, DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH. 75

portance of the field. A letter of hers bears on
this point.

" St. Gabriel s, Peekskill, Jany.
" My very dear Sister :

Shall we have a little chat over Chicago this
morning ? . . . I think I appreciate fully
all the points in regard to our taking up work in
Chicago; and whenever it seems to be the will of
God that we should make a foundation there, I
shall be not only ready but more than ready to
begin it. One might make two points:

" ist. If through any action, or want of action,
on the part of the Trustees, we should be obliged
to leave Kemper Hall, that moment we would be
ready for Chicago.

1 The other point : Whenever the Province of
Illinois is ready to send for training two or three
candidates, we promise a foundation for Chicago.
I say, the Province of Illinois, but, of course, I
intend by that, any Western Diocese. I think
when we have eight Sisters for our work at the
West, we may safely assume two works. I con
sider now that we have five, as Sister F - really
came to us from the West, and it is my intention,
as soon as it can possibly be done, either to return
her, or a Sister in her place, for the work at the
West. Now where are those candidates ? Can
you not produce one or two of them ? Has
Bishop - no recruit forces ? Perhaps I ought
to add a word in regard to his having other Sis
ters, as you mentioned the matter in your letter.
Of course, if there should be other Sisters ready

76 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

to go to the Bishop, and we not ready, it would
be an indication that God did not intend St.
Mary s for that field. The natural man has a
longing for Chicago ; but the natural man must
not govern but be governed by the spiritual man ;
and so let us wait quietly for the clear light.

In the autumn of 1887 a small house was opened
on the south side of Chicago in connexion with
St. Clement s Church, Canon Knowles being then
the priest in charge. The modest beginning
grew in time to more. The Mother wrote after
the settlement had been made in that city :

" I suppose Chicago is full of people of every
sort and kind ; and that, even in the mission
work, there comes some phase of this pressure of
people. One feels like saying, Oh ! their souls !
their souls ! Pray for the multitude.

The Sisters had been in that position three
years and a half, when they removed to the
Cathedral, and took up mission work on the west
side. In 1894 they purchased the property next
door to their Mission House, for $16,000, and
opened a Temporary Home for Children ; this
also belongs to the Community.

With these establishments, at Kenosha and
Chicago, there was now what might be considered

ADVANCE, DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH. 77

a Western branch of the Community, as there
was a Southern branch at Memphis and Sewanee.
That these might become, at some future time, in
part autonomous, holding a place in the Commu
nity something like that of Provinces in the
Church at large, was the Reverend Mother s idea
and earnest desire to the day of her departure.

Later, in the year 1886, the Laura Franklin
Hospital in this city was placed in charge of the
Sisters. This, I think, completes the list of the
institutions, educational, eleemosynary, etc., now
in their care, a wonderful list to have been written
since the year 1867.

VII.
MEMPHIS.

THE story of Memphis has been told in full
already ; * it must be too well known to
need repetition. And yet some mention of
it must be made, so great is its importance in this
history. Before the memorable year 1878, many
spoke against these faithful and devoted women :
after that year, the tongue of calumny was silent,
while men looked on with beating hearts, and
eyes dim with tears. For God then gave to His
faithful the crown of martyrdom ; their names be-

* See a pamphlet entitled The Sisters of St. Mary at
Memphis. With the Ads and Sufferings of the Priests
and others who were there with them during the Yellow
Fever Season of 1878. By the Rev. Morgan Dix, D.D.
This pamphlet, privately printed, was, by permission
of the Mother Superior, reprinted in Church Work, a
monthly magazine for Church work, edited by Mrs.
A. T. Twing, vol. ii., No. 12, October, 1887. New York,
M. H. Mallory & Co., 47 L,afayette Place.
78

LETTERS. 79

came sacred thenceforth, ennobled by the love
which shrinks not from death, in appalling form.
The light is still shining on the graves in Mem
phis, where they rest who laid down their lives
readily, joyfully, eagerly, for God, for the breth
ren, and for those who had no strength nor cour
age left ; who thus filled up the measure of their
calling, and were nailed to the Cross with Him
who, for our sakes, became obedient unto death.
The sacrifice was at once accepted by all beholders
as the vindication of the immolated, the test of
their motives, and the proof of the power of their
faith. It could not have come more opportunely.
A voice seemed to say, of them: "Thou shalt
hide them privily by Thine own Presence from
the provoking of all men : Thou shalt keep them
secretly in Thy tabernacle from the strife of
tongues."

It will be remembered that in the year 1873, on
the request of Bishop Quintard, and with the con
sent of Bishop Potter, some of the Sisters were
sent to Memphis, to found a school for girls, and
to take charge of an institution already existing,
known as the Church Home. In August of that
year, a little band arrived, consisting of Sister
Constance, who was to be the Sister Superior and
to take the headship of the school; Sister Amelia,

80 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

one of the original five, Sister Thecla, who had
just made her profession, and a novice known as
Sister Hughetta, a young lady of a distinguished
Southern family. Sister Amelia was set to work
to organize the Church Home, then in deplorable
disorder; a task for which she had a natural apti
tude, with the advantage of her experience in the
Sheltering Arms and House of Mercy ; the other
three were to be specially engaged in the educa
tional work. Sister Constance* was a young
woman of culture, intelligence, and ability, of
great personal attractions, of exquisite grace, re
finement, and loveliness of character in short,
qualified in every particular to train the daughters
of the South, of whom a considerable number
were at once readily confided to their care. Sister
Thecla was a woman of a noble type, strong, able,
thoughtful, a great soul. It will be at once con
ceded, by those who knew them, that they who
were sent to Memphis in 1873 were the flower of
the Sisterhood of that day.

Scarcely had they commenced their work, when
that terrible disease, the yellow-fever, appeared in
Memphis. They immediately wrote to New York,
and asked permission to remain at their posts and
nurse the sick It was granted ; and so these three
* Miss Louise Caroline Darling, of Boston, Mass.

MEMPHIS, 8 1

or four, of whom not one had had experience in
epidemic disease, and whose special work was that
of teaching, found themselves in the novel position
of hospital sisters in a plague-stricken community.
The summer passed; the fever ceased; and they
resumed their proper work in the school, of which
the opening had been postponed till late in the
autumn of that year.

But worse things were to come. Five years
later, as the summer of 1878 crept in with stealthy
tread, there were rumours of a new visitation of
the enemy ; and in the month of August of that
year, the yellow-fever was once more pronounced
epidemic in Memphis. This time it came with
tenfold force and fury.

Sister Constance and Sister Thecla were absent.
At the closing of the School they had gone North,
for greatly needed rest and change of air. On
the 1 5th of August, the news reached them at St.
Gabriel s, that Memphis was in confusion, and
that thousands were flying from the place. This
was two weeks only from the time of their arrival
in New York : and without the loss of an hour
their preparations were made, their farewells were
said, and they were on the way back to Tennes
see. A priest had hardly time to commit them to
the mercy of God, when they were gone.

82 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

It was a striking contrast: on the one hand,
crowds flying in terror, escaping by carriages,
wagons, carts, and even on foot ; moody men,
trembling women and children : on the other a
few brave souls, with equal resolution, speeding
into the valley of death ; men of the medical pro
fession, clergymen helping to assist the dying,
hospital nurses, and the calm-faced daughters of
the lyord seeking Him in His despairing people.

The little band on whom this storm burst con
sisted of the following persons :

The Rev. George C. Harris, D.D., Dean of St.
Mary s Cathedral;

The Rev. Charles C. Parsons, Rector of Grace
Church, Memphis;

Sister Constance, Superior;

Sister Thecla, teacher in St. Mary s School;

Sister Hughetta, teacher in St. Mary s School;

Sister Francis, in charge of the Church Orphan
Home;

Mrs. C. Bullock and Miss Margaret Murdoch,
both residents at the Sisters House.

To these were subsequently added:

The Rev. I/>uis S. Schuyler;
The Rev. Wm. T. D. Dalzell;

MEMPHIS. 83

Sister Ruth, and Sister Helen, sent from Trin
ity Hospital;
Sister Clare, of St. Margaret s, East Grinstead.

The Sisters House was turned into a dispen
sary and store-house of supplies ; the Orphan
House was similarly utilized. At the re
quest of the Relief Association, they also took
charge of the " Canfield Asylum," on the 29th of
August.

The work was incessant, like all work in time
of violent epidemic disease. There were daily
celebrations in the Cathedral ; the blessed Sacra
ment was reserved, being constantly needed for
the dying. In the narrative already referred to,
many letters are given, pathetic, harrowing, terri
ble, descriptive of the scenes about them and the
awful distress. Sister Constance kept a little
diary, up to August 3ist, when it ended. At
that time Sister Thecla had been down but was
better and at work again; 119 new cases had just
been reported; and memoranda of death after
death are strewn over the sad pages.

At last they sent to St. Gabriel s for some help.
Mother Harriet would have gone long before,
was eager to go, but was positively forbidden to
take the risk; the General commanding is not the

84 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

proper person to lead the forlorn hope. Eager
volunteers besought permission to go; two were
selected, Sisters Ruth and Helen, whose training
at Trinity Hospital, as nurses of the sick in that
house, and in the worst places in the Fifth Ward
seemed to have fitted them for that honourable
service. Sister Ruth was in a retreat at St. Ga
briel s when the summons came ; she left it at
once, and on the 3ist of August, set off on her
journey, with Sister Helen and Sister Clare.
They arrived, Sept. 2d, and plunged at once into
the tide of that fatal flood.

On the yth of September the Rev. Mr. Parsons
died ; the first to fall. Up to the time when he
became ill, the daily celebration was made hi the
Cathedral. Dr. Harris was already down ; they
had no priest; they were alone with God. When
this was known, many priests offered their ser
vices to the Bishop of Tennessee; of whom the
first to arrive was the Rev. lyouis S. Schuyler, truly
an elect soul. It happened that he was at St.
Gabriel s holding a service, when the news of the
death of Mr. Parsons and the doubtful state of Dr.
Harris came : he learned it as he left the Chapel
early in the morning. On the 8th of September
he was in Memphis, arriving on the day after Dr.
Dalzell.

MEMPHIS. 85

The end was now near for Sisters Constance
and Thecla, who thus far had borne the heaviest
burden. On the yth they were both stricken and
reported as very ill : that was the day on which
Mr. Parsons died. A full account has been given
of their passing.

Sister Constance died September 8th, Sister
Thecla s only fear being that she might be stricken
before her Sister s soul should have entered into
rest.

On Thursday, the i2th, the brave soul of Sister
Thecla departed.

On Saturday, the i4th, Dr. Armstrong, a faith
ful and beloved physician, died.

On Monday, the i6th, Mrs. Bullock died.

On Tuesday, the lyth, the Rev. I^ouis Schuyler
died.

On the same day, a few hours later, Sister Ruth
died.

On the 4th of October, after recovery and a re
lapse, Sister Frances died.

So the little band dwindled away.

On that 1 8th of September, they received, at
Trinity Hospital, New York, this despatch:

Sister Ruth entered into rest last night.
Beati mortui.

86 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET,

" Only Sister Helen remains to be smitten of
the fever.

" Sister Hughetta and Sister Clare are doing
well."

It would be impossible, without long extracts
from the letters of that period, to give an adequate
idea of the beauty and dignity of those transla
tions to the place beyond this vale of sorrow ; of
Sister Thecla, suffering greatly, but patient
through it all, her whole soul set on the I/ord,
chiding those about her who would have helped
her in her agony, with the remonstrance, I was
with Jesus and you have disturbed me " ; of the
dear little Sister Ruth, beloved of all who knew
her, dear to the children and poor in the New
York slums, so quaintly mirthful, so bright, so
cheery ; of Schuyler, and Parsons, brave men as
ever lived; and finally, of Sister Constance, whose
name, now after nearly twenty years, is a great
power for devotion and righteousness wherever it
is known.

She described with her own hand, soon to be
relaxed in death, one of the last pictures seen by
her in this world:

" Yesterday I found two young girls, who had
spent two days in a two-room cottage, with the
unburied bodies of their parents, their uncle in

MEMPHIS. 87

the utmost suffering and delirium, and no one
near them but a rough negro drayman who held
the sick man in his bed. It was twenty-four
hours before I could get those two fearful corpses
buried, and then I had to send for a police officer
to the Board of Health before any undertaker
would enter that room. One grows perfectly
hardened to these things carts with eight or nine
corpses in rough boxes are ordinary sights. I
saw a nurse stop one day and ask for a certain
man s residence the negro driver just pointed
over his shoulder with his whip at the heap of
coffins behind him and answered, I ve got him
here in his coffin.

Sister Ruth, ere she followed her, gave some
graphic sketches of her dear Superior s death.
She spoke often of the children, the orphans ;
sometimes she repeated I^atin verses ; sometimes
it was her accounts that disturbed her mind ;
but in her delirium she was sweet and gentle,
her voice always soft and low. She received
the blessed Sacrament from Dr. Dalzell, who had
just arrived to relieve the dead or dying priests:
her eyes lit up. At the foot of the chalice were
some white roses, almost the only ones then to
be seen. At intervals she repeated the Hf and $ >
" O God, make speed to save us. O I<ord make
haste to help us." About midnight she cried
aloud, " Hosanna" ; at 10 A.M. it was all over.

88 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

This is, in brief, the story of Memphis. It may
be imagined how deep were the pain and anguish
of those who, from a distance, looked on, unable
to help save with their prayers. But in the record
of the Community this is the page most brill
iantly illuminated with the colours and the gold.

Were there a similar trial to be sustained to
day, no doubt the Sisters would embrace the occa
sion with the same enthusiasm : they know the
value, the help, the moral and spiritual power flow
ing from such instances of devotion to the divine
Master. As for the Southern Branch of the Com
munity, they have felt, more deeply perhaps than
it has been felt elsewhere, the benediction of that
bitter baptism of suffering and pain : a very pro
found religious impression seems to give a pecu
liar tone to their work, a marked cast to their
habit of mind. Those who fell on the field of
duty may have been permitted to aid and
strengthen others who never saw them, but to
whom they were more a reality of the present
than a memory of the past.

And now I shall add some words about a
strange affair, which, if what we have been told
is true, illustrates the power of a name and the
force of an example. It is just to the Sisters to
state that they have not desired that anything

MEMPHIS. 89

should be said outside on the subject, and that I
proceed on my own responsibility, taking the risk
of their disapproval. I refer to certain circum
stances attending the death of a Sister who
departed this life at Memphis, on the night
immediately following Christmas Day, in 1887,
after a distressing illness of a year s duration.
There are several statements of what occurred,
with some details which may be set down as
fantastic, and unworthy of repetition ; but after
carefully winnowing and sifting the mass, we
come to the following particulars involving
dates and matters of fact and not of fancy. It
seems that during the month of November, in
the year mentioned, this Sister had what she be
lieved to be a revelation, made to her through
Sister Constance, informing her of the precise
date of her death, with minute specifications; that
she related this at the time, and that her death did
actually occur exactly as predicted. On or about
the 1 5th of the month, after having received the
Blessed Sacrament, she informed those present
that she had seen Sister Constance in her room near
her bed. Some days later she further stated, after
a night of great suffering, that Sister Constance
had come to her again, and sat beside her, and
soothed her pain ; and that on being asked how

90 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

long she had to live, she was told, Until Christ
mas." She then said to Sister Constance, " I
hoped to make my Communion on Christmas ;
and that Sister Constance replied, You will do
so." Having further expressed a fear lest her
death might cast a cloud on the children s festivi
ties she was told : You will not die till late on
Christmas night, and before then you will be bet
ter, and suffer less, and the time will not seem
long."

They tried, it seems, to persuade Sister Isabelle
that this was a hallucination, and the effect of ex
cited nerves; but she insisted that it was not a
dream, but had occurred precisely as she had
related it. And in that conviction she became
composed and calm, and so spent the time; and
everything turned out exactly as had been pre
dicted. On Christmas Eve she was well enough
to sit up in her bed, and help to prepare the deco
rations for the Cathedral, and dress dolls and fill
cornucopias for the children. On Christmas
morning she received the Sacrament with great
joy; soon after she became unconscious, and in
the ensuing night, at 2.20 A.M., she died.

That night a Sister dreamed that she saw an
angel standing over against the city who an
nounced that he had come to bear away the soul

MEMPHIS. 91

of Sister Isabelle; she awoke and said a prayer
for the dying, and looked at her watch, noting
the time as 20 minutes past 2. A little child who
was devoted to Sister Isabelle awoke her mother
in the night, exclaiming that she had seen in her
dream Sister Isabelle entering into Paradise.
One of the younger Associates, living in Constan
tinople, dreamed that same night that she saw the
heavens opened and our Lord receiving Sister
Isabelle.

These are the particulars of that strange case.
Let each reader make of it what he will. It may
be set down as a psychological incident, or a
spiritual experience, or the result of imagination,
or a delusion. Members of the Community have
taken different views of the matter, as was to be
expected; we quarrel with no sceptic, and do not
insist on conformity with our own opinion. But
considering the nearness of the visible and invisi
ble worlds, and what is included expressly or by
implication in the doctrine of the " Communion
of Saints"; considering that the Religious Life
where faithfully led, must act to loosen the bands
of the flesh, and open the eyes of the spirit; con
sidering that there are things in heaven and earth
not dreamed of in our low and material philoso
phies ; considering, to use the words of Keble,

92 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

that those "pure spirits" beyond may and do
soothe and haunt us night and day ; consider
ing that God has often revealed things in dreams
and visions, and that His angels are in close and
intimate relations to the pilgrims of this night;
we take leave to avow our belief in these and many
like things, as having actually occurred, and are
not ashamed to stand in the company of John
Mason Neale,* Father Maturin, Frederick George
Lee,f Wm. J. Knox Little, t and other firm be
lievers in the Unseen World and in the possibility
and likelihood of intercourse between the inhabi
tants of that world and us who are living here for
a season.

The Reverend Mother was very much interested
in this matter both as a psychological incident
and a special experience ; but what her opinion
about it was, she never told me, nor might it
have been discreet to enquire too closely.

The Mother Superior never ceased lamenting

* "The Unseen World ; Communication with it, Real or
Imaginary." By J. Mason Neale, D.D. ad ed. Joseph
Masters, London, 1853.

t " Glimpses of the Supernatural." By the Rev. Fred
erick George Lee. 2 vols. London, 1875.

\ " The Broken Vow. A Story of Here and Hereafter."
By W. J. Knox Little, Canon Residentiary of Worcester
and Vicar of Hoar Cross, Staffordshire. 3d edition . Lon
don, Chapman & Hall, 1887.

MEMPHIS. 93

the loss sustained by her and her children in the
taking away of those noble and holy women.
For years Sister Constance and the rest were an
abiding memory, like the habit of a perpetually
present sorrow. Again and again has the writer
heard her lament, as one bereaved indeed, the loss
of such daughters as those whom the Heavenly
Bridegroom removed from sight for a while. The
following summer was one of great anxiety lest
the terrible scourge should be again inflicted on
that unhappy place. A letter on that point, writ
ten in 1879, illustrates what all were dreading:

" I try not to think what the summer may be,
only to be prepared, as far as may be, for what
ever it shall please our Great High Priest to send
us. Keep me informed of everything, which may
seem to speak of the fever. I would not think
it best for Sister E or Mrs. M to be ex
posed to it, if it is possible to save them from
such exposure without injury to others. My
own dear Sister, I understand so well what is in
your heart when you say you can think of a long
time of suffering with a wish to suffer. I should
not dare to say it was presumption in your case.
May our dear Lord give to you, and to me, what
we most need for our sanctification : may we so
yield ourselves to the operation of the Holy Ghost
as in all things to be, and do, what He would
have us be, and what He would have us do.

" With dearest love for all,

Affectionately your Mother in our
" Blessed Lord."

VIII.
LETTERS.

MY acquaintance with the Reverend Mother
began about the year 1865. She was one
of those persons who make an impression
which no lapse of time can efface. Probably she
owed to her remote French ancestors certain
striking characteristics in her bearing and actions;
her vivacity, her brightness, the conversational
charm which she possessed; her sympathetic in
terest in everything which came under her inspec
tion. She had a very keen sense of humour, a
ready wit, and a merry laugh which was irresisti
ble ; she had the high-bred air distinctive of those
of gentle birth; a lady, all through. She re
minded me of St. Theresa, as described by her
biographer, Cardinal Manning ; there were the
same simplicity of character, directness of pur
pose, activity of motion, humility of soul, self-
deprecation, which marked the Spanish woman ;
94

LETTERS. 95

indeed Mother Harriet, as I found out, had a
special admiration of Sister Theresa, and a great
love of her, and, no doubt, unconsciously, made
her a model in practice. She was a great worker,
and a great traveller, making long journeys from
point to point, visiting the Sisters, wherever scat
tered abroad, and keeping herself informed of
everything relating to themselves, their lives, and
their respective houses in the East, the West, and
the South. As a business woman, she would
have taken a high place among men of that class;
thoroughly versed in whatever she needed to
know, wisely administering the financial affairs
of the Sisterhood, watchful, prudent, forecasting.
She had a heart full of sympathy for the troubles
of others; she shared the sorrows of each one of
her spiritual daughters; she was their confidant
and comforter. She suffered keenly whenever,
in that family of hers, anything went wrong;
when dissension troubled the domestic peace;
when tempers proved incompatible; when work
ers had to be changed from place to place; when
some lapsed and left their associates for alien
relations; when, as in some cases, unfortunate
women looked back, became discouraged, and
reverted to a world which they had renounced
with vows destined, alas ! to be broken. Infinite

96 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

patience, unwearied love, unfailing pity were in
her soul; a strong desire for her own sanctifica-
tion and that of all with whom she had to do.
As the slow years passed, bringing

" Many a sorrow, many a tear,"

one could see the furrowed lines of care deepening
on the features of her on whom that heavy load
was laid, but her bright, cheerful, hopeful spirit
never failed; within was calm and steadfast resolu
tion ; that well of delightful good humour still sent
forth its fresh and sparkling streams to gladden
and brighten the vale of misery; her trust in God
and her Beloved grew stronger, and the refrain of
the latter years was the ardent desire for the rest
of the Paradise of God. Perhaps no one has ever
more fully illustrated in her life work, through all
its stages, these words, written in the breviary of
the Saint with whose spirit her own dwelt in such
harmony and affection :

" Let nothing disturb thee,
Let nothing affright thee.
All passeth away,
God only shall stay.
Patience wins all.
Who hath God needeth nothing,
For God is his all."

LETTERS, 97

An early Associate of the Sisterhood sent me
some valuable and appreciative observations,
drawn from her long and loving intimacy with
the Mother, first as Sister Harriet, and then as
the Superior, from which I make this extract :

" My own feeling is that the Mother s especial
characteristic was the virtue of Hope, or perhaps
I should say the Charity that hopeth all
things. Before I had ever seen her, and shortly
after the foundation of the Sisterhood of St.
Mary, I was told what struck me so forcibly that
I have always remembered it ; one of the Sisters
had been talking about making a quest for
money, and Sister Agnes said she thought it
would be more important to seek candidates.
Sister Harriet (as she was called then, indeed I
believe I was one of the very first who called her
Mother, before some of her own Sisters) answered
that she always expected to go down to the door
some morning, and see a whole row of women
asking to be admitted into the Community. Cer
tainly her prediction was fulfilled in a way she
could hardly have imagined herself in those days
of small things.

" She was always very kind to me, from the
time when I first knew her, through going to the
Sheltering Arms to work for a little while. To
manage the large tables full of children at meals
was rather beyond my powers, and she came
down so kindly to help me enforce discipline, and
show the unruly children they would not be
allowed to misbehave, tho the one in charge was
not a Sister.

98 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

She was so fond, in later life, of the text
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth
forth much fruit. I have heard her dwell upon
that as a kind of epitome of what should be the
life of a religious community, in speaking of
various tribulations and trials through which their
own had had to pass. I think she felt sacrifice
to be the essential of the Religious L,ife, for the
individual and the Community so strongly."

The correspondence of the Reverend Mother
must have been immense. Her letters are care
fully preserved in the houses of the Sisterhood as
sacred treasures. If these were accessible to the
general reader they would present that character
in the light in which it has been portrayed; but
that, of course, cannot be. A selection of them
has been most kindly sent to me for examination
and publication in this memoir.

I found the selection difficult, says the Sis
ter who sent them, " because the letters which
were most characteristic and telling, often had
personal references to individuals or situations
which made me shrink from sending them. I
have arranged the letters under subjects, hoping
to save trouble. The arrangement may not
always be obvious, but I think something may be
saved."

LETTERS. 99

The arrangement shall be followed, in the
transcription, although even these may have to
be somewhat further pruned. They will be read
with deeper interest, particularly by those younger
members of the Community who knew the Mother
less intimately, and by those who are to come
after. These words of hers constitute a legacy
to them, which will be reverently accepted and
affectionately preserved. The reader will often
find, in the preceding memoir, the explanation of
matters referred to in the correspondence.

VOCATION.

"St. Mary s, Rockaway Beach,

"Aug. i4th.

My very dear Sister :

" I received your letter on Tuesday of last
week, and should have replied before, but for the
coming here. Sister S returned on Wednes
day evening, and I had many things to look after,
that I might be free to leave on Thursday even
ing for New York. On Friday evening I came
here; here at last, after the long waiting for a
little rest and sea air. I should like to answer
your letter in detail, but I know it is best for me
just now not to write long letters. I am satis
fied, nay I am more than that, I am sure that it
is God s will that you should serve Him in the
Religious Life, and that in His Providence you

100 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

were led to seek that life in this Community ; and
I truly believe that as you surrender your whole
being more perfectly and entirely to the Divine
Will, so your vocation will become clearer to you
and you will marvel at the hesitation and the
holding back of the past. We may not look for
perfect unity of * opinion in a Community : there
must be diversity ; it is impossible that all should
think alike on minor points, and even in graver
matters there will be differences. On general
principles there must be agreement. With a lov
ing heart I say, my very dear Sister, come back
to us, and with us fight manfully unto your life s
end.

" The Retreat will be somewhat shorter than
usual, for various reasons; it will begin with Ves
pers on Monday, Aug. 28th, and close on the
morning of Saturday, Sept. 2d. I should like
you to reach St. Gabriel s on Saturday, Aug.
26th. . . .

I hope to have at least two weeks here for my
treatment, which consists in breathing the charm
ing sea air and taking a few sea baths, and being
with forty or fifty children ; but I do not mind
their noise so long as I am not responsible for
them. I hope to take my first sea bath to night.

Sister is here and looking so well and

strong.

" With dearest love, believe me, ever most
affectionately yours in Xt,

"THE MOTHER."

* A blot appears on the sheet at the side, with this
explanation : "A mosquito caused this blot." No won
der, at Rockaway !

LETTERS. IOI

" St. Gabriel s, Peekskill,
" Dec.

" My Dear Sister :

1 I think of you now as hard at work in the
great city of Chicago (Sister F - s pet). I
imagine you will become greatly interested and
absorbed in mission work; it is always fascinating
and it is quite unlike your work of the past few
years. I trust all will go well; but in every
house we find trials awaiting us ; we must meet
them, not in our own strength, but in the strength
of the Great Master, who never fails us, if we
leave all in His hands. You are now, as it were,
making a new beginning. Dr. Pusey somewhere
says, our whole life is one of new beginnings; and
so it is, falling and rising again, time after time.
. . . I think you know I cannot do much let
ter writing on account of my eyes, but you must
write to me from time to time. My dear love to
Sisters F - and C - .

Affectionately yours,

" THE MOTHER."

" St. Gabriel s School,
" Peekskill, N. Y.

"Oct. 28th, - .

My dear Sister :

" I am sure you are enjoying the old home
faces and having a quiet time with your Sisters.
I think of giving you to Sister Eleanor for a while
to work in the Trinity Mission, but it is not fully
settled yet. . . . We are filling up the
vacant places in the Novitiate. Sisters M

102 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

M and B P are in New York at St.

Mary s Hospital; in their places we have four
minor postulants in the Choir: we have three,
and soon will have four, Choir Postulants. It is
wonderful how God calls one after another to
leave all and follow Him, and still the labourers
are few. We cannot begin to answer the calls
upon us for work."

MOTIVES TO WORK IN DEDICATED LIFE.

" St. Gabriel s,
" Peekskill,

" Oct. igth .

1 My Dear Sister J .

Many thanks for your nice letter. Do you
know, it so happens that the month of September
brought me, first your letter, then one from Sis
ter I/ , then one from Sister J ; and I

hope to answer each one before the last day of
October comes upon us, altho I am not much up
to letter writing ; almost everything I try to do is
done by a great effort. . . . Father Allen s
sister has just died, and she is to be buried
at Po keepsie. She once thought of coming to
us. No, dear Sister, it cannot matter what work
we do, because we do all to the glory of God, and
to Him. Whether we offer the work of the hands,
or the work of the intellect, it matters not. We
are living in a very wicked world, and judgment
upon it cannot be far away, ijet us have our
lamps trimmed, our ears alert to hear the voice
of the Bridegroom, for He will surely come, He
will not tarry.

LETTERS. 103

" We have a very large household this year;
the school is very full, and everybody is very
busy. We have made a refectory of the little
parlour, for the use of the School : if the Sisters
had a house to go into, the School would soon turn
us out of our present one. Thus far it does not
seem to be God s will that we should begin our
Convent, and I am content to do His will. With
very dear love for you and all,

Affectionately yours,

"THE MOTHER."

" St. Gabriel s, Nov. 13, 1891.
" My dearest Sister :

Yes : it is some time since I have written to
you, but I know you will forgive me. I have
been so pressed at every turn, and my eye is
very weak, and I am often obliged to stop in the
midst of my writing and give that one eye a rest.
It does not pain me in the least but is very, very
weak. I spent two weeks at , and on my re
turn found such a load of work ! I was days and
days getting at the bottom of it. . . . I will
not write of all that is in my mind concerning the
action of the Society.* The Church is certainly
passing through a great crisis, and I may say,
Religious Orders through a still greater crisis than
even the Church. I feel like one who is holding
on to some tender, small tree, the tree looking as
if there was scarcely anything to hold on to, yet
feeling sure that the root, which one could not
see, was firm, strong, solid, and would not fail

* The reference is to the Evangelist Fathers.

IO4 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

one. . . . The lesson of detachment is a very
hard lesson for most of us to learn. ... I
hope the points of the Chapter * would have been
sent before this. . . . The point about the
Offices was not one of my points. I suppose the
idea in the minds of the Sisters was, that it was
an occasional thing happening seldom. I should
be very sorry to have the memorials left out, ex
cept now and then in case of necessity. Are you
quite sure that the Offices must be so said ? I
fancied, with school work, Sext and Nones could
be managed separately for the most part. . . .

My special love to dear Sister H. T and to

all. I am having many worries just now; if one
had only some one to look to for help ! but such is
not God s will, and there must be perfect trust
and no murmuring."

ACCEPTANCE OF THE WIU, OF GOD.

" Feby. 2 5 th.
Dearest Sister :

Your letter of yesterday was very discourag
ing. I shall anxiously await the word of the
Chicago doctor. I understand the I think. I
cannot feel that dearest Sister will not get better,
yet I fear. May we all accept lovingly whatever
God has in store for us concerning our beloved.
It pleased Him to take my first Sister Constance ;
if it is His will to take my second Sister Constance

* Prior to the meetings in Chapter, a list of topics to be
considered appears to have been sent to each one entitled
to a place and a vote.

LETTERS. 105

it must be right. Give love to the precious in
valid from us all : we pray constantly for her, and
also for our dear Sister A .

" I trust you will have that supernatural
strength given you which you need, for only the
supernatural can help you to bear all cheerfully.

Ever lovingly in our Blessed Lord,

"THE MOTHER."

" St. Gabriel s,
"Junes, 1884.

My very dear Sister :

I am good for nothing to-day, not feeling at
all well, but I must manage to answer your letter.
. . . I always say, if there exists the need,
and one has counted the cost as in the sight of
God, one must undoubtedly make the venture of
faith, believing that the Lord will provide ; it
would be difficult for me to express in words how
very strong that feeling is with me.
Our little addition gives us a nice class-room, and
six alcoves, each containing an entire window.
This, including the fitting up of the alcoves, put
ting in gas pipes, etc., etc., cost $1200, and it has
been paid from the school receipts of the year. I
suppose you will use brick .* Not having that
interest to pay gives a chance of meeting ex
penses. I hope the Trustees will not borrow
money to pay it and so increase the debt. I can
not remember telling you that the first few years
the interest was all at 8 and 10 per cent. You
can imagine the drain on the School fund: I was

* The reference is to work at Kenosha.

106 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

amazed; it seemed like usury to me. I think now
it is all reduced to 6 pr. ct. . . . You will
have to be wonderfully busy to get ready for the
Retreat in the short interim of School closing and
Retreat beginning. You are fortunate in having
Father Maturin again. We shall remember the
Mission."

" St. Gabriel s, Sept. 7, 1885.

Dearest Sister :

" I take it for granted the telegram was reed,
and that our dear Sister is by this time safely at
St. Paul s: the change will be good for her in ad
dition to the medical advice. . . . The day
for the Profession is not yet determined upon: I
will write as soon as I know, if only a postal.
. . . I feel greatly distressed when I realize
how I have failed to rise up to the difficulties of
the past year, which certainly have been great,
yet their greatness is no excuse for my spiritual
weakness nor do I know that I ought to excuse
anything on account of physical weakness, yet
that too has been very great. I wonder some
times how it came about that I should be so ner
vously unstrung : that is passing off and we will
hope that it will soon be all gone."

The following letter refers to a visit to a Sister
hood which had been established in Toronto, in
the Dominion of Canada. The Sisters of St.
Mary felt a great interest in it, for the reason

LETTERS.

that the founders were trained in New York, so
that it was, as it were, a mission offshoot of their
own Community. Mother Harriet speaks of it
in a letter written at St. Gabriel s, as follows:

\

11 We had two Novices admitted this morning:
one is for the Canada Sisterhood. I think you
know we are training two Canadians to be re
turned to Toronto, to found there a Sisterhood.
Sister Hannah, who is to be the Superior, will
probably be professed in September and go di
rectly to Toronto. Sister Hannah goes to New
York this week to get a little insight into our
work in the city ; you may see her at the Infirm
ary, Varick St. It has been very pleasant to have
the training of these two Sisters : one would
hardly have thought that St. Mary s would have
trained two Englishwomen for the Religious I/ife.
God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to
perform. "

" St. Gabriel s, Peekskill,
"April 21, 1886.

My very dear Sister :

" You will think me long in writing, but the
days are so full just now. I reached Toronto in
good time, without mishap of any sort or kind. I
found no one awaiting me ; my letter did not
reach Mother Hannah in time; but I easily ob
tained a carriage and was soon at my destination.
I had a very charming visit, all were so kind. I
had two drives, seeing all that was worth seeing

IO8 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

of Toronto. The Sisters are very pleasantly situ
ated, and are getting on nicely in every way. At
present, the novitiate consists of three Novices
and three Postulants. Nursing is quite a feature
of their work. I left Toronto at 3.55 on Saturday
afternoon, and was obliged to change cars three
times before reaching Peekskill, at which place I
arrived safely on Sunday morning at 10 o clk.

I found Sister F very ill ; congestion of the

lungs; one of the maids also very ill with lung
trouble; this morning she passed away into that
other world ; she was one of our own people, and
not a Romanist; we are glad about that. She
will be buried from here, probably on Saturday.
She was a good girl ; she was able to receive the
Blessed Sacrament yesterday morning. Sister
Agnes is not so well ; there can be no thought of
her going far from home : I begin to fear that she

may not rally from this illness. Sister S or

myself will go down to see her directly after
Easter. I feel as if the next autumn would bring
with it great difficulties, but I know that what
ever comes, all is from a loving God, and I trust
we may all be guided and strengthened to meet
whatever trials may be in store for us. I thought
so constantly of you, dear Sister, after our parting
at the station; the returning alone to Kemper
Hall ; but I am so sure you are able to bear this sor
row, to accept lovingly God s will for you. May
we not believe that the spirit of our sweet Sister
will hover over the house, and that you and all
will feel the nearness? With dearest love for
you and all,

" Lovingly,

"THE MOTHER."

LETTERS.

" St. Gabriel s, March 28, 1888.
My very dear Sister :

1 I must write you a line to-day because it is
March 28th, and we remember that two years
ago the soul of our sweet Sister passed away, en
tering into that life eternal, that new life that
knows no ending. To-day it is Wednesday ; that
other day it was Sunday, the Lord s Day ; so
fitting for our dear Sister to go to Him on His
own Day.*

" I received your note about the change of
quarters in Chicago. I do so want to see the
Chicago home! Our Novitiate has not had as
many recruits this last year: I dare say it will
soon take a fresh start again soon. I have several
letters just now about candidates.

With dearest Easter love for all,

Affectionately yours.

" St. Gabriel s, Nov. n, 1890.

My very dear Sister :

I am afraid you will think I have quite for
gotten you, it is so long since I have written:
dearest Sister, believe me, I do not forget you
even for a moment, nor do I forget the little
points you ask me about. I have a little box and
drop into it the queries from time to time as I re
ceive them. I have been so very, very busy, and
I have not always felt up to letter writing, when

* It will be remembered that the Mother herself had
the honour of being taken on Easter Day.

110 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

the writing could be postponed. You can hardly
think how I long for Kemper Hall to be almost
the very same as the Mother House.* God in

His wisdom took from it our precious Sister E

who seemed so necessary from our point of view;

now He may will to take Sister H T , and

if we could have our way, how we would have
both with us, would we not ? Yet we know without
a shadow of doubt that all things work together

for good. Sister E s balancing power was

something wonderful, still God willed that the
work was to go on without her.

CURRENT EVENTS IN THE CHURCH.

Alluding to the defection of Father Rivington,
one of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, she
writes:

"St. Mary s, 8 E. 46th St.
"April i 3 th,

I have before me your letter of woes. I mean,
however, to look on the bright side of it just now.
I say to myself : I would rather hear that one
of my dear Sisters had entered Paradise, than to
hear she had left the Church of her baptism for
the Church of Rome. I mean, any Sister of mind
and position. I do not, of course, mean just any
Sister, whose mental powers one could not hold

* This seems to be a reference to her wish for a kind
of provincial arrangement of the branches in the South
and West.

LETTERS. Ill

in esteem. Father Rivington s action passes my
comprehension.

She made several visits to England. Previous
to one of these she writes :

" I wish very much to go to England this
spring, and study up a few points concerning re
ligious Orders: if any kind Associate will give us
a little money I can manage it, but we cannot

afford the expense. I should take Sister C

with me. But alas ! for the filthy lucre ! where is
it to come from ? "

" St. Gabriel s, Peekskill,
" Nov. 14, 1883.

My very dear Sister :

" I have your nice, long letter; also the little
note telling me of the case of fever, which I hope
most earnestly is not a very serious one. Thus
far we have gotten on without much illness, a few
little ailments only.

" I did not enter much into the Prayer Book
matters as handled at the Convention ; I hardly
know what was proposed. . . . You know
all about the translation of our dear Dr. Ewer; I
was one of his admirers. Have you heard of the

death of our sweet L,ily D ? only twelve hours

illness, and her pure spirit departed : the idol of
the family and loved by all who knew her. I
grieve for her dear mother and father; the latter
seems utterly crushed. ... As you see, I am

112 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

Monarch of all I survey, Community, Noviti
ate, Housekeeping, etc., etc. We are making
additional refectory room for the children. We
have a young girl with us as candidate for the
Minors; I hope she will remain and go on."

ANNIVERSARIES OF PROFESSIONS.

"Jany. 25, 1887.

" Just a word of love on this your day. I am
reminded of the poem, We are Seven. Our
seventh is at rest, the six still toiling on in this
lower world, doing His will most imperfectly,
while our seventh, may we not believe, thinks
of us, joins her prayers with ours, as she does that
will more perfectly in her Paradise of Rest in the
Heavenly Home. The day is very beautiful here,
and the two of the seven here are unusually well
and bright. . . . On Thursday, if all is well,

I propose to start for Memphis Sister H is

to go with me. I feel that I must give all the
time I have to spare from here to Memphis, and
I ought to be back by the end of March, I hope
before the 28th. This year that day falls in Pas
sion Week."

" , , 1888.

This is your day with all its beautiful lessons
and all its memories of joy and sadness. I can
scarcely realize so many years have passed since
that Profession Day. . . . Our day is almost
here ; we shall probably have the usual Chapter
on the Octave of the Purification."

LETTERS. 113

VACATIONS FOR SISTERS.

It seems to have been a part of the duty of the
Reverend Mother to plan the vacations so that
the workers might be relieved and the work go
on. Many letters are taken up with these ar
rangements, involving much thought and consid
eration.

1 I sent the telegram : I am quite clear that
Sister F should go to her mother at this junc
ture: as to who shall be sent to Chicago, I am
uncertain."

I sent the night telegram begging you to set
off to Clifton as soon as possible. Your letter was
delayed again, being sent to that unknown place
that once before took one of your letters about
dear Sister. I am glad the Retreat was so fully
attended and appreciated. How wonderful are
God s ways! And how much He permits us,
poor weak mortals, to do for Him !

" St. Mary s, Rockaway.

" I am just sending a telegram saying, by all
means take the California trip. I am more than
delighted at the proposal for you, it quite seems
to cover the whole ground. Don t say, three
weeks; say, four, five, yes, even six! Now as to
crossing the sea another year : who can tell what
may happen before another year comes round ?

114 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

Do plan everything new without reference to that.
I beg you will take full time and over. I know
that the Sisters and Teachers will all be faithful
ness itself, and it is so important that you have a
change, absolute change and rest; important for
you, and important for those working under you.
We go to the city to-day. We have had two
storms for my benefit (I love a high sea) and the
two yachts passed us for our benefit also; so I had
a full view of the great race of the season. I am
writing in great haste, as everything must be
packed away this morning."

" St. Gabriel s.

" I am just leaving here for N. Y. on Hospital
business which seems to have neither beginning
nor end ; it obliges me also to go to White Plains,
and I am stealing a little time to write to you

before I leave. . . . Sister J s aunt has

secured a promise from us that she should pay her
a visit: she will go directly her aunt returns, and
then we will forward her to you. . . . Your
month off, now: nothing must prevent you from
going away for one full month, and leaving all
your cares behind you. The Sisters are perfectly
capable of going on, and you must, as I say, have a
full month ; we will not put it four weeks, but one
full month. You know, dear Sister, I am not an
Autocrat, but you may call me such in this mat
ter or give me any bad name you like, and I 11
not say a word. As for the expenses, that is not
to be mentioned; you are entitled to whatever
you need, and you must be sure to do that which
will be the most perfect rest to you. And now I
have got to the end of my paper."

LETTERS, 115

" St. Gabriel s, July 31, 1894.

We shall be delighted to see you and Sister
once more, and have you with us for the

Retreat, which begins with the Vespers of Mon
day, Aug. 27th, and closes with the celebration on
Saturday, Sept. ist. We could not take in a
Sunday, as Father Benson was obliged to be in
Boston for Sunday duty. I see no objection to
your stopping over to consult the Doctor. . . .
Oh, this heat! I am almost melting: it seems
sometimes as if I could not endure another day,
and vegetation is crying piteously for a little rain ;
a little rain, but the little rain don t come."

ENJOYMENT OF OFFICES.

"St. Thomas Day,
O Rex Gentium.

" This is St. Thomas Day, and we are re
minded that the Great Feast is very near. How
beautiful the Great O s are, as day by day we
approach the Feast ! * To say the Divine Office

* Some of our readers may need to be informed that by
the " Great O s" are meant the Antiphons to the Mag
nificat sung during the third and fourth weeks of Advent ;
they were as follows :

Dec. 1 6th, O Sapientia.

" lyth, O Adonai.

" i8th, O Radix Jesse.

" 19th, O Clavis David.

" 2oth, O Oriens.

" 22d, O Rex Gentium.

" 23d, O Emmanuel.

Il6 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

is indeed one of the great joys of the Religious
I/ife: I love it more and more, although I have
been compelled to give up Matins since that ill
ness of mine.

" St. Gabriel s, April 10, 1884.

My dear Sister :

"It is Maundy Thursday : our Matins and
Lauds for this day, may I say it ? were perfect. I
think the Office was never more beautifully ren
dered in our Chapel than last night at 12. Oh!
what a mystery this week is! Shall we under
stand it all some day ? With dearest love for all,
ever lovingly yours, in the Crucified One."

" St. Gabriel s, Dec. 27, 1890.
" My dear Sister :

" I sent off a hasty scrap yesterday: now I will
write not so hastily.

We say the Peace of the Church on Advent
Ember Days. There is no regulation as to absti
nence when travelling ; a matter of that kind
must be governed by circumstances; it might be
best at one time, and not at all best at another
time. Whenever Sext and Nones are said to
gether it should be by aggregation : there should
be no provision for any other way for saying the
two Offices together. . . . We had our usual
Christmas Offices; we began Matins at 10.45 an( i
went on until 2. I was well tired when I went
to my room, and not equal to rising at 6 A.M.
All these years I have been able to have the mid-

LETTERS. 117

night services at Christmas and again in Holy
Week. I wonder if I shall have many more.
Tears are passing ; the time cannot be far off,
when mine will no more be passing, but past. I
send you a motto for the coming year.* I hope
the sky will be a little clearer for you, dear Sister,
as the days go by. We know our discipline comes
from God, and we must vindicate God by our ac
ceptance of it. Have you read Godet s Studies
on the Old Testament ? If not, try to get the
book and read his exposition of Job. With dear
love, affectionately yours,

"THE MOTHER."

In another letter, which I have mislaid, she
wrote to this effect: " The longer I live the more
I delight in the study of the Bible : I am becom
ing a Bible Christian. 1

ILLNESS AND DEATH AMONG THE SISTERS.

Of the letters entrusted to my care, none are
more touching than those written on occasion of
fatal illness and impending death in the Commu
nity, or after the departure of some elect soul to
the rest of Paradise. From these I hesitate to
make many extracts : they might sadden and de
press the reader, or appear like violations of the

*The motto was, "Thy Will, Thy blessed Will, what
ever it may be."

Il8 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

sanctity of sorrow. But in them all comes out
the loving tenderness of the Mother s heart, and
they show how habitual was the thought of the
vanity of life and the near approach of the end.
Words of comfort and consolation abound ; sooth
ing, tender words, which none knew better how
to speak to the mourning heart. Some brief ex
tracts will suffice, taken here and there from a
large number now before my eye. The following
contains an impressive description of a Christian
transit hence.

" Kemper Hall, Kenosha, Wis.,
" March 29, 1886.

" My Dear Sister :

" Our dear little Sister Elise passed away at
the hour of Prime on Sunday morning, the first
hour (ecclesiastical) of the Resurrection Day, and
on the 28th of the month (four times seven). All
through the day before she was very weak, and it
seemed as if she could not survive the night;
none of us went to bed. About twelve I went to
my room, lying down dressed, thinking any mo
ment I might be called ; but I was not called till
I was preparing to go down to Prime. We were
all with her. I read the short office from our
Manual for the dying : then we all repeated the
Creed and the I/>rd s Prayer. She ceased to
breathe so quietly that we hardly knew the exact

moment ; but Sister M C took out her

watch, and it was precisely half past six. We

LETTERS. 119

then said the office in our Manual for one de
parted ; lingered a few moments ; then went down
to Chapel and said Prime without ringing the
Chapel bell. The funeral service will be in the
Chapel to-morrow morning : there will be two
celebrations. I think I never knew a more quiet
departure or more quiet illness. Everything in
regard to the School went on as usual ; no noise
disturbed Sister, and she wished everything to go
on up to the last moment. A characteristic ill
ness and death in her case, just as it was in Sister
Esther s : and now we have another name to add
to our March commemorations. Sister made her
last Communion on Saturday at 12 noon."

In this letter I find a slip of paper written in
another hand; that of a priest who was there at
the time.

" Praise to God for the deliverance of Sr. Elise,
a very sweet, true, pure soul, perfected through
suffering and fit for Paradise."

Sister Agnes will long be remembered as the
accomplished and admirable head of St. Mary s
School in 46th St. ; a wonderful woman, for the
perfect calmness, quietness, and steadiness of her
ways, and her great influence on all who came in
contact with her ; nothing ever seemed to rufSe,
disquiet, or trouble her.

The Reverend Mother, in a letter written at St.
Gabriel s, Nov. 4th, refers to her illness.

I2O MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

" Sister Agnes is, I think, slowly but surely
passing away. She still clings to the daily rou
tine. I hope to see her soon, but I cannot be

much away in Sister s absence. . . . We

did not have a ceremonial procession to the Ceme
tery on All Souls Day, but we all visited it, and
laid our gifts of flowers and bright leaves on the
graves of our beloved ones. The day was per
fect."

In another letter she gives some particulars of
the transit of that brave, calm, earnest woman.

"St. Mary s, E. 46th St.
" April 28th.

" Our dear Sister Agnes entered into rest on
Thursday, April 2ist, at 10.15 A.M. She suffered
very much all through her illness, and the last
two days from great restlessness. . . . Sister
was in the Community room, dressed as usual, on
Tuesday morning, but at noon she said she felt so
very ill she must go to bed. From that time she
failed; and on Saturday we laid her to rest in our
quiet Cemetery. Dr. Richey went up with us, as
well as Dr. Houghton. All the funeral service
was private. As we left the Cemetery a little
robin on the top of a tree began singing with all
his might. Dr. Houghton says, Who that was
present can ever forget that song ? "

A few more notes may be added to these pa
thetic descriptions, taken here and there from the
papers before me.

LETTERS. 121

" April 29, 1891.

" I had a faint hope that our sweet little Sister
Helen Theodora might rally with the warm
weather, and possibly might be able to come
home, and so finally rest with us here. But your
letter makes it clear that this cannot be : give her
my dearest, sweetest love, and tell her I had so
hoped to see her once more. As I go into the
Mortuary Chapel from time to time I often say
to myself, who of us will first find rest here ?
We have many delicate Sisters, now ; very many ;
yet it may be that the strongest and least ailing
will be the first called."

I am reading with intense interest the Mys
tery of Pain " ; I brought it with me from Mem
phis."

The weather is very hard upon me [written
in August during great heat], and there is so
much to do and so much to think about. The
telegram telling us of the death of the All Saints
Superior read Our Reverend Mother Rests.
That one word, rests, how much is contained
in it !"

" Dec. 22d.

" Before this reaches you, you will have entered
into the Christmas joy, have taken the Christ
Child afresh into your heart. May all Christmas
joys be with you, and all the dear Sisters with
you. I am thinking so much of our sweet Sis
ter , as this precious season draws near. Be-

122 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

fore determining the time of Sister S s visit,

I would like to know as nearly as possible just
how she is. I wish above all things that Sister

S might be with her when those last hours

seem to be very near: please write me how it is."

"Jany. 12, 1888.

" . . . . You have received before this the

news of Miss M s death. Sisters, Postulants,

Associates, one after the other, and pupils too ;
all passing through the gate of death, all entering

into the Blessed Presence. Miss M was

ready for the change. Mary Parker we shall miss
sorely ; she had given herself to God, and the
offering was accepted. *

" Feby. 6th.

" . . . . A thousand thanks to you and all
the dear Sisters for their loving remembrances.
I steal a little time in the midst of our week f
to write a few words for you all and to tell you
that right in the midst of our week we say our
last words over dear Sister Gabrielle. To-day we
lay her away in her lonely bed : now she is in the
Chapel, and her face is very sweet, and beautiful,

* A memorial window bearing the name of this lovely
young girl may be seen in the Trinity Mission House,
No. 211 Fulton St. She was the only daughter of the
Rev. Dr. Stevens Parker ; as pure a soul as ever passed
hence into the light beyond.

f The reference is to the anniversary of the Commu
nity, and the Chapter then held each year.

LETTERS.

123

and peaceful. . . . She never lost her con
sciousness for one moment. She was only 22.
In the midst of life we are in death.

Referring to the death of another Sister and her
burial at St. Gabriel s, she writes:

She was one of the seven at your profession :

she came between you and Sister F . Sister

Eleanor went on to her and reached Augusta in
time to be with her several hours. She especially
asked to be taken to Peekskill for burial ; it
seemed to have been much on her mind. Now,
the Seven are divided ; five in the Church Mili
tant, two in the Church Triumphant; and so, one
by one, we go on our lonely journey, as one by
one we entered into this world. . . . One by
one we drop out and another takes our place; and
so it will go on and on until that Second Coming.

" Have you seen the book, Earth s Earliest
Ages ? The author seems to think the world
now is much as it was in the days of Noah ;
touches upon the Theosophy of the present day,
etc., etc. Well, we know God rules over all,
while apparently Satan is having it all in his own
way ; this Theosophy is certainly a special device
of his to ruin souls."

SCHOOL SUPERVISION.

The charge of four large schools, with constant
attention, not only to the expenditures and re-

124 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

ceipts, but also to the details of the management
of those institutions, one in the City of New York,
another in Putnam County, a third in Wisconsin,
and a fourth in Tennessee, must have been most
exacting and laborious. Allusions to the school
work are constant. A postcript to a letter writ
ten at Rockaway Beach says:

" K. H. has 64.

"St. G. s 54; last year we managed to stow
away 58; this year all are large girls; we can
only manage for 54."

Of Kemper Hall she writes:

" Sister F seems wonderfully well again; I

hope she may continue so; I am surprised to see
how much she seems able to do. I think she has
all her classes except Astronomy ; she could not

go to the Observatory, so Miss H has that

class."

Kemper Hall stands on Lake Michigan : there
was when the Sisters first took charge of it a great
deal of trouble, with heavy expenses, in protect
ing the front by a breakwater or dyke from the
heavy waves on the shore.

" Thanks for your note, and the account of the

LETTERS, 125

fearful storm. At the rate of 15 ft. a storm, how
soon would the house go ? Can you do that sum ?
I received a letter from the Bishop about some
definite plan for the School, but I could not say
anything about it until we could talk it all over;

and besides I have a fancy for Dr. seeing the

property ; you know he could easily manage this
at the time of the General Convention.* . . .
I have just heard of the death of Dr. Mul-
ford : I think you knew he was a friend of mine.
He was only 5 1 in years, and we thought him
strong in body as well as strong in mind, and
he was altogether a most charming man : you
would have enjoyed him thoroughly, had you
known him. As a scholar he was wonderful. I
shall cherish his last gift to me, The Republic of
God. "

One who was very intimate with her writes as
follows:

Ever since I have known the Mother I have
found her interested in every branch of Natural
Science, especially, of late, in the subject of light
and recent discoveries in that department of
knowledge. She was glad to discuss these sub
jects with others and eager to interest them in
the same. It was her habit to reserve articles
which specially pleased her, for the girls in the
School. Just before her departure she had been
reading Canon McColl s Life Here and Here-

* Held in Chicago, in 1886.

126 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

after, a book on Our Life after Death, and
Willink s World of the Unseen. "

A LIGHT AND A SHADOW.

" St. Mary s, Memphis,

" Tenn.
" February nth.

" To THE REV. W. C. F ., D.D.

Rev, and Dear Sir :

" It gives us all great pleasure to receive
your beloved daughter, and the more so because
of your tender letter of commendation.

" I trust God has indeed chosen her to be
among His special ones; the elect of the chosen,
if one may so express it ; that is, if we may, while
we call the whole body of the Church the Elect,
call all Religious Orders within the Church, the
elect of the elect.

" I left St. Gabriel s on the evening of Thurs
day the 3d, and will probably not be home again
until the end of March.

" I passed through Cleveland on Friday, and
thought of you and yours, as the train stopped for
a few minutes at the depot.

" With true regards, believe me,

" Sincerely and reverently yours,
"^ HARRIET,
" Mr. Supr. Com. S. M."

(Copied by Mrs. F ).

LETTERS. 127

" Trinity Hospital,
" Nov. 9th.

My dear Sister :

1 Will you kindly tell the Sisters with you

that Sister M E has left the Community

and intends joining the Roman Church. I need
not add, that this is a trial to us all, but we will
forgive her the wrong, and try to forget it, saying
as little as possible of what she has done.
" Affectionately,

"THE MOTHER."

IX.
THE PASSING.

THE voices of Nature speak directly to the
ear of man. None, perhaps, are more ex
pressive than those heard towards the
declining of the day by one who, having still with
him in the body some dearly beloved and venerated
friend, or more than friend, reads in the sunset skies
the presage of parting. The day going away, the
shadows of the evening stretching out, the golden
glory flaming in the west announce the nearness
of the end ; near as is the end of the day, so near
is the end of life; and, with a sudden anguish and
a grip at the heart which only they can compre
hend who have felt it, men realize the pain of
separation, the shortness of the time, and the near
ness of the hour when other words will cease in
that last word, farewell.

Step by step we have followed one in her

earthly pilgrimage : it remains only to muse of
128

THE PASSING. 12$

the time and the manner of her passage from this
scene.

Notwithstanding the prevailing tone of cheer
fulness in her letters, there is reason to believe
that the last two years were full of anxiety and
trouble. Perhaps this was to be expected, con
sidering the wonderful growth of the Sisterhood,
the intricacies of its business and work, the occa
sional clashing of interests, the proceedings of
some thoughtless and difficult members, the mis
haps and misadventures encountered in every
large society, and the advancing age and declin
ing powers of its head. It is a rule of the Sister
hood that the Superior shall be re-elected after an
interval of three years. For several terms, the
Mother was thus re-elected until at length the
formality was omitted through the wish and in
tention of her companions that she should continue
in office all her life. Notwithstanding she often
expressed the conviction that it might be better
for her to withdraw, and to seek time for undis
turbed preparation for her change: that wish was
overruled by the Chapter, and for her the day of
rest was put off until she was taken to it in Christ
through the portal of the grave.

In the spring of 1894, the Mother made her
last visit to the South. A letter from a Sister

130 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

now at Memphis gives a pleasant account of the
visit.

" During her stay with us we celebrated the
yoth anniversary of her birth. She was as de
lighted as a child with everything done for her
pleasure. On the morning of her birthday the
School children brought her a large silver tray of
roses. There must be fifty roses here ! she
exclaimed on receiving them.

" There are just seventy, the little children
replied, and Mother was delighted. On the even
ing of the same day the Academic Classes enter
tained the Mother with an excellent rendering
of The Merchant of Venice. She was full of
enthusiasm over the play, declaring to the great
amusement of the students, that she herself could
not have done the part of the Jew half so well.
To which one of the children replied, We did
not suppose, Mother, that you could have done
the Jew" s part at all. At this the Mother laughed
heartily.

" As Superior General of The Guild of the
Holy Child Jesus, she took great pleasure in the
work of the Southern Branch of the Guild. We
always arranged to have a reception of new mem
bers into the Guild at the time of her visits.
Once while viewing the long procession of beauti
ful white-veiled children returning from the
Cathedral to the School after their joyful musical
service, she expressed her pleasure, commenting
upon some special features of the service. It is
the custom with us for the children received into
the Guild to wear wreaths of white roses as a dis-

THE PASSING, 131

tinction from the other members ; and for two
children to accompany the Cross-bearer carrying
slender banners of white satin and gold bearing
the words JESU King of kings and JESU
L,ORD of lords. Mother was delighted with all
and said to me, How little did Sister E , Sis
ter M M and I think that the little Guild

we organized in 1869 would grow to be anything
so beautiful and good as this !

1 Mother was always lovingly interested in our
Orphanage. " These dear little children," she
would say, " have no one but us to look to: how
faithful we should be to our trust !

Great indeed was her love for children and
deep the interest she took in them. Here and
there instances of this come back to us. There was
a young child whose birthday was the same as that
of the Reverend Mother, the yth of May. On the
child s eighth birthday, she received a letter from
the Mother alluding to the coincidence and say
ing, " You are now 8, and I am 8 times 8."
Thenceforth they always kept their birthdays to
gether, exchanging loving greetings, till 8 more
years had passed, when the child of 16 and the
holy woman of 72 sent their last messages to each
other. From the Sisters was sent to the child the
copy of the De Imitatione, well worn by long use,
which the Mother kept in her stall in the Chapel
at St. Gabriel s : a treasure worth more than

132 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

any earthly price to an appreciative and loving
heart.

In confirmation of the impression that the last
years brought some special trials, the following
letters demand insertion:

"Jany. 31, 1895.

" . . . . I am sorry Sister F is so out

of health, but God knows best and we can only
accept His will in all things. We mourned for
our dear Sister Paula, but we know that to depart
and be with Christ is far better ; and she is safe ;
the turmoil is all over and the rest has come.

" Sept. 13, 1895.

" I have had rather a trying summer in many
ways, but, as you know, I do not lose heart. I
know and am sure, that all is from God, and that
His very chastisements are tokens of His love.
The grace of humility cannot be ours, unless we
have humiliations. I try to obey that clause in
our Rule * which says : Be thankful for humilia
tion of whatever kind. "

" St. John s Day, 1895.

" . . . . Dear Sister, you have not been
cross with me : I cannot write or even speak of
the past year. I have suffered too deeply. Yea,

* The Inner Rule must be the one referred to.

THE PASSING. 133

a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also.
If our patron saint is the Mater Dolorosa, our
tears must blend with hers. I wonder sometimes
whether I shall ever go West and South again.
I have entered upon my 73d year and must soon
be laid aside. I would like to have a little quiet
time before I go hence and be no more seen. "

Date wanting.

I know you are very weary and things look
rather dark ; but as a matter of fact things are not
really dark. God ruleth over all, and if we feel
troubled, is it not a want of faith on our part ?
Just think of our blessings : what are our trials
compared to our blessings ? . . . I realize
that the checks we receive as a Community are
blessings in disguise. Sometimes it comes to me
we are too worldly, do too much to please people
outside ; so let us believe that when God speaks
to us as He has in the events of the past summer,
that He longs to make us all more entirely His
own, that He would have our very best. . . .
I am writing you a long letter, and have still
something more to say : when the School is fairly
in order, you must go away for a rest. This is a
positive command; do not think it cannot be."

Up to the very last she was actively engaged in
the duties of her position, as actively, at least, as
growing infirmities would permit. It was a great
happiness to her that she lived to see the comple
tion of the Chapel at St. Gabriel s. She insisted

134 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

that there should be no molestful begging for it;
no canvassing for contributions even among the
Associates ; she wished it to be as nearly as possible
a free-will gift and offering of love. The Mother
made many quiet suggestions, in that mirthful
spirit so characteristic of her, about the Chapel.
In England nothing struck her so much as Durham
Cathedral, and she declared that it was her desire
and intention that the Chapel should be built on
the model of Durham. It is not quite so large, nor
is it calculated to remind the visitor of that struc
ture; but it is a very beautiful Chapel, and when
she saw it finished she might well have sung her
Nunc Dimittis.

The last official act of Mother Harriet was a
visit to St. Mary s Hospital in New York, made
some three weeks before her death, in order to
complete the arrangements for the establishment
of a Summer Home for Children at Norwalk,
Conn. In 1881, through the kindness of a friend,
land was purchased at Rockaway Beach, and a
Seaside Home was erected there. The Reverend
Mother was passionately fond of the ocean; for
some years her only recreation consisted of a few
days, now and then, at Rockaway ; some of the
letters already transcribed for this memoir were
written there; but she realized the fact that it

THE PASSING. 135

was better to abandon the place, in consequence
of its growing disadvantages and inconveniences,
and gladly consented to the transfer of that branch
of the work to a new site. A lady of this city,
widely known throughout the land for her gra
cious acts of benevolence, gave the Sisters 31 acres
of land, and $20,000, for a building to be erected
at Norwalk, a property once owned by the Can
non family, and associated in Mother Harriet s
thoughts with recollections of her early days.
The Home will accommodate some seventy chil
dren, and the buildings will soon be begun. It is
pleasant to reflect that as her ministrations of
mercy began among the children, so they ended
in the same tender companionship with those
lambs of the flock of Christ, that Great Shep
herd of the sheep.

In the life of St. Theresa we read that, at the
last, her one thought was, After all, I am a
child of the Church ; and in that fact she
stayed her hope and trust in the mercy of the
Lord. Our dear Mother had a spirit as humble
and reverent as that of her great exemplar, but
she also had an almost exultant trust, a hopeful
assurance, of the power and love which never had
failed her, and in which she was joyful and glad.
In her allusions to her approaching departure,

136 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

there was a quiet and resolved confidence which
showed supreme conviction of her safety, and
prophesied, without presumption, the triumph
over death. Of the dry and cold-blooded pagan
ism which affects indifference to death, or the
theory that it comes as a regular and legitimate
sequence in a process fixed and ordained by
natural law, and should therefore be accepted, or
even welcomed with satisfaction by man of that
pernicious philosophical opinion she knew noth
ing save that it has no place in a Christian s con
victions. The awe and dread of death were on
her, as they are in all men and women of sound
mind and just apprehension of our story and our
doom: but the dread and awe were exorcised and
cast out, not by any heathen speculation, but by
the profound, the consoling, the glorious teach
ings of Catholic Eschatology, and by the light
which it flings in full flood on the dark valley of
the shadow of death. Jesus Christ is He to
whom alone man may turn for help. Nay, it
may be asked, who so near to Jesus Christ, so
sensible of His Presence at the last, as they who
have left all, in the literal and exact sense of the
word, and are, body, soul, and spirit, one with
Him, bound by one firm purpose which has over
thrown all resistance, and by vows which have

THE PASSING. 137

been kept faithfully to tlie end ? To whom shall
we go but to Thee in Thy Life ? And where in
death shall we go but to Thee ?

If there was one thought above all others
habitual with her, it was that of the shortness
of the time and the nearness of the end. On one
All Souls Day, when they visited the little sleep
ing place at Peekskill and laid flowers on the
graves, she said : " I wonder whether I shall be
resting here on the next All Souls Day." In the
latter year, the last of her life, when the care
and the burden were becoming daily heavier and
heavier, she wrote :

I have been about writing you for some little
time past, but somehow have not managed it :
perhaps it was because I did not like writing about
myself. I find myself obliged to lay down some
laws in regard to the use of my one poor eye. I
understand the doctor thinks a cataract is form
ing: this may or may not be so; but I am trying
to get used to the thought that it may be so. I
have given up general reading, only looking over
a book or a paper just a little; and I have deter
mined never to use a book except in the broad
daylight, and to get as much help as possible in
the way of letter- writing, etc., etc. ; so if my let
ters are few the Sisters will know the cause. It
may be that God intends to lay me aside for
awhile in this world before I am taken to my
Eternal Rest. Whatever His will be, may my
will ever be His."

138 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

On occasion of another severe attack of illness
toward the end, she wrote :

I suppose you know why there has been no
word from me all through our great Feast.*
. . . I was obliged to succumb and have the
doctor sent for. Well, he kept me a prisoner in
my bed for nine whole days with no privileges ;
however, on the Octave Day I was allowed to be
in the ante-chapel and make my communion, and
I had the benefit of Second Vespers; but I am
still in some sense a prisoner. I am allowed to be
in my office for a time, and do some work, and to
have my meals served me there, but I am not yet
allowed to go down to the Refectory or the Com
munity room. I know that it is necessary to be
careful. The doctor feared that the inflammation
would extend to the other lung, but it did not.
I suppose I shall not be permitted to go to the
city for some little time yet. There ! a long
letter all about myself !

But why put off saying what now must follow ?
It was near the end of Lent, in the year 1896;
those weeks were at hand when the faithful watch
Christ in His Passion, accompanying Him, step
by step, on His way forth from this troubled
world. Now, at the time more fit for the purpose
than any other, the devout Religious at St. Ga
briel s were called to watch the departure of their

* Referring to the Purification and its Octave.

THE PASSING. 139

beloved head from their company and her transit
to the royal land of flowers and light. Every
thing seems to have been ordered by those higher
intelligences to whom is committed the care of the
children of Our Lord ; and great is the peace
which fills the soul when we observe how all was
brought about to that end.

No one was anticipating what occurred : it
came suddenly and without warning. The
Mother had been as well as usual, bright, and
like herself, as one who might yet see many years.
On Passion Sunday, March 22d, 1896, she was in
the Chapel for the last time. The Rev. Dr.
Riley, of the General Theological Seminary, had
been conducting a Retreat : in his last meditation
on the Love of God in our glorification, he had
dwelt much on the life after death. The follow
ing Monday the Mother spoke to one of the Sis
ters on the subject, and told her what a rest and
refreshment the Retreat had been to her, and
what a pleasure it had been to receive more light
on the subjects on which her mind had been
dwelling of late ; adding that she felt as though
she had had a glimpse into the unseen world,
that the cares then pressing on her were lightened
and easier to bear, or rather that she felt lifted
above them. She went on to speak of the points

I4O MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

in the meditation which had chiefly impressed her;
and then she said: I have been thinking a great
deal of late about death and what it will mean to
me personally ; but I cannot make it real ; I
don t know at all how I shall feel when I know
that I am to die."

That day she felt very tired and had a cold, but
she was up part of the day. On Tuesday they
wanted her to see the physician, but she refused,
saying that she would soon be better and hoped
to be quite well for Holy Week. On Wednesday,
she was worse and consented to see .the doctor ;
apologizing to him for putting off sending for him
on th*e ground that he had so many demands on
his time and she did not wish to add one care
more. He pronounced it a case of acute bron
chitis, and seemed hopeful.

She was apparently comfortable during the re
mainder of Passion Week; quiet, and, as usual,
deeply interested in school affairs, enquiring
every morning about the girls, and particularly
about two of the number in whom she was much
occupied in thought about that time.

On Saturday a change occurred : it was pneu
monia. When told so, she said : "I wonder if
the Master has come for me ; and soon after
she added, I think God will ask me to give up

THE PASSING, 141

going to the Chapel in Holy Week. I have
never missed the Night Offices before ; all of Lent
I have been hoping that I could fully keep Holy
Week."

Palm Sunday came ; and in the morning she
told the Sister who had been with her constantly
to leave her for a while, get her palm, and make
her communion ; which she did. On returning
she brought with her a palm for the Mother, and
as she saw it placed over the picture of St. The
resa which always hung in her room, her eyes
filled with tears, and she said : " It is the first
time I have missed the Palm Service, adding, a
few moments afterwards : " It is the will of
God." When reminded that this was perhaps
intended as her special L,enten discipline, she
said : Yes, this may be the Cross our dear Mas
ter wishes me to carry for Him and it is a very
real one." The next day, when told that the
Sisters were saying The Way of the Cross, she
replied : "I too am saying the Way of the
Cross."

During Holy Week the Mother took very little
notice of what was going on ; she suffered much
from restlessness, and asked not to be left alone,
as she had troubled dreams and saw strange and
dark things when she closed her eyes: she seemed

142 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

however to suffer little pain. Her frequent re
quest was for " water fresh from the well." On
Maundy Thursday she received the Blessed Sac
rament. It was brought to her from the Chapel;
she had followed the service exactly and was told
when the priest was beginning the Canon. After
reception she remained perfectly calm and peace
ful, murmuring to herself: " I am waiting; the
Master has been served.

Often during those last hours she was heard to
be saying, as if secretly : " Light, Emblem of
Life"; and " Dear Master" ; and again, " He
leadeth and guideth me," and " obedient unto
death." On Thursday night she said aloud :
" They are calling me," but gave no expla
nation.

On Good Friday when a very dear friend came
from New York to see her, she rallied somewhat,
roused herself and recognized him. Then uncon
sciousness returned : but it was felt by those who
watched by her that it was only toward the side
of earth, that this was a special preparation for
the life beyond, and that already in heart and
mind she had entered the world of the Unseen.

On Easter Even the Blessed Sacrament was ad
ministered to her for the last time.

On Easter Day after Matins in the Church, the

THE PASSING. 143

priest came and said the Commendatory Prayer :
while he was doing so she fixed her eyes upon
him and evidently knew what was going on.
Thus the hours passed, until about 3 o clock P.M.
the Sisters were summoned and knelt about her.
It was just before the hour of None. One of the
Sisters was reading the Gradual Psalms, the rest
responding. The Chapel bell rang out the ninth
hour of the day. The Mother heard it, opened
her eyes wide, and seemed to be looking into the
other world. Then slightly lifting her hands,
while the final prayers were said, she breathed
out her soul without a struggle, and was with her
Master.

On Thursday in Easter Week the body was
reverently laid to rest. It is unnecessary to say
more than has been already said in the Prelude
about the scenes in the Chapel and the Cemetery
that day. An account of the funeral services, the
only one authorized by the Sisters, has been pub
lished as an appendix to a sermon preached by
the Chaplain of the School on L/ow Sunday.* To

* Faith through Love. A sermon preached in St.
Mary s Chapel, Peekskill, New York, on Low Sunday,
1896, being the first Sunday after the Burial of Sister
Harriet, Foundress of the "Sisterhood of St. Mary, New

144 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

that account the reader is referred. L,et me add
but one thing : the hymn, a favourite of hers,
which was sung as the priests who acted as bear
ers took the bier from the choir, and bore it away
to the cemetery.

THE RETURN HOME.

" Safe Home! Safe home in port!

Rent cordage, shattered deck,
Torn sails, provisions short,

And only not a wreck ;
But oh, the joy upon the shore,
To tell our voyage perils o er!

The prize, the prize secure !

The athlete nearly fell;
Bare all he could endure,

And bare not always well:
But he may smile at troubles gone
Who puts the victor-garland on !

" The lamb is in the fold

In perfect safety penn d;
The lion once had hold,

And thought to make an end.
But One came by with wounded side,
And for the sheep the Shepherd died.

York," and for thirty-two years its Mother Superior. By
the Rev. Arthur Lowndes, D.D. To which is added an
authorized account of the Funeral Services on the Thurs
day in Easter Week. New York, James Pott & Co.,
Publishers, Fourth Avenue and 22d St. 1896.

THE PASSING. 145

No more the foe can harm :

No more of leaguer d camp,
And cry of night alarm,

And need of ready lamp :
And yet how nearly had he failed,
How nearly had that foe prevail d !

The exile is at home !

Oh, nights and days of tears,
Oh, longings not to roam,

Oh, sins and doubts and fears,
What matter now, when (so men say)
The King has wip d those tears away ?

O happy, happy Bride !

Thy widow d hours are past,
The Bridegroom at thy side,

Thou all His Own at last!
The sorrows of thy former cup
In full fruition swallow d up! "

FAC CUM SANCTIS Tins IN
NUMERARI.

CONCLUSION.

MY task is completed; and now, with a full
knowledge of its unworthiness and imper
fections, her old friend reverently lays
this offering upon that grave wherein her mortal
body is sleeping in peace. It has been a help and
a relief to spend so much time during the past
summer in this communing with the holy dead.
These pages were written in part by the sea-shore
where the grey Atlantic spreads its waste of
waters, often veiled in fog and mist, and still beat
ing out their perpetual chime against the grassy
dunes; in part on the banks of the lovely St. Regis
lake, where the tall pines lift their solemn shafts
and foliage to the sky, and the mountains, chang
ing with every hour, announce, as of old, the right
eousness of the Eternal. In either place, there was
pause from the confusing nosies and uproar of
these troubled and anxious months; brief respite
from the din made by the enemies to our peace
and to the good order of society, the noisy orator,
the political agitator, the stirrer of strife among

brethren, the new woman of the period, the proph-
146

CONCLUSION, 147

ets of evil, and those who deem it their mission
to upset, subvert, and destroy the landmarks set by
our fathers. When the world seems in throes, as
about to bring forth one knows not what new and
monstrous progeny, and when the hearts of men
are failing them for fear and for looking for those
things which are coming on the earth ; it may be
counted a privilege beyond estimate to have been
drawn, either by the sense of obligation or by the
strength of a deep attachment, or in any other
way, to lengthened communion with an unworldly
and exalted soul, to have been permitted to watch
a star of God shining more and more unto the
perfect day; and while musing of a life rooted
and grounded in love, strong in reverence for the
things eternal, devoted to God, and liberally
provident of the best gifts that can be had here
below, to have forgotten meanwhile, or ceased to
observe that there are anywhere about us persons
without religion and without grace, whose lives
are led outside the Kingdom, the centre of whose
thoughts, desires, and hopes is in a world which
decays and is ready to vanish away. And now,
gentle reader, that we have meditated together on
this precious story, let it be asked, whether we
can do anything to express gratitude and appre
ciation, if the narrative has awakened them with-

148 MEMOIR OF MOTHER HARRIET.

in our spirit ? What permanent memorial should
there be of the first Mother Superior of the largest
of our American Sisterhoods ? I^et this sugges
tion be made : that, by many offerings of love,
from many warm hearts and many hands, there
be erected in time on the place where she dwelt
and where her body rests, a Mother House, apt
and meet in all respects to be the dwelling of the
Community. Let us arise and build, to the glory
of God and to the memory of His devoted daugh
ter. Perhaps this little narrative may meet the
eye of some woman whose heart is in the world,
whose life has little else to show but a round of
self-seeking and amusement in society. Were it
not well for her to look on such a life as this, and
by some timely offering establish a sympathetic
relation with one, side by side with whom she
must finally meet her Judge ? It is possible that
these pages may be read by some one of the
women of the advanced school, who, doubtless
with an intention which seems to them to justify
that course, devote their best power to the demo
lition of that ideal of womanhood, which only,
thus far, has helped and blessed the world?
Might not the heart of such a one be reached and
softened, by seeing what good was done by a great,
earnest, loving spirit working on the old lines,

CONCLUSION. 149

true to that womanly model which we reverence
in the Church and honour with all but adoring
love" in the Blessed Mother of our Lord Jesus
Christ ? Howsoever it be, let us arise, bring pres
ents, and offer gifts. It is memorable, and as true
as strange, that not one woman rich in this
world s goods has ever cast in her lot with this
Community : their recruits have come from the
ranks of those who were rich in faith alone. It
is time that others in a different position recog
nize a privilege here which, once seen, will be
gladly acknowledged. Great as was the work of
their first Mother Superior, we trust that the Sis
terhood of St. Mary are to see greater things than
these, and that the light now shining in their
houses shall shine more and more for many gen
erations after we have vanished from sight.

JR1NITV -, ! . HOUSE

BX 5995 C23D5 1896 TRIN

Dix, Morgan,

Harriet Starr Cannon 141299

BX 5995 C23D5
Dix, Morgan,
Harriet Starr

1896 TRIN
Cannon 141299